What is to blame for cases of suicides among pupils?

After last year’s KCPE results were released on December 28, a girl in Kericho District took her life. Reason? She could not comprehend how she had scored a lowly 145 marks after eight years in school.Yet, Mercy Chebet, 14, was not alone. Several other pupils have since committed suicide after posting poor grades, or after being forced to repeat grades.The deaths have not been limited to pupils as a head teacher in a primary school in Narok also hanged himself after his school’s results were cancelled due to cheating.With the number of learners who are throwing themselves to early graves on the rise, psychologists have their work cut out as they seek to explain a trend they warn could go out of control if not curbed.Philip Odio, a psychologist, attributes the suicides to a stressful environment, coupled with factors such as high cost of living.Click here