Death of boy, 11, ruled a suicide
State Coroner Marvin Bay revealed in his findings on Friday (Oct 21) that the boy, who fell from height from his 17th-storey Sengkang flat on May 18, had committed suicide.
The 11-year-old Primary 5 pupil was found dead at the foot of his block on the same day he was supposed to take his exam papers home.
The boy, who cannot be named due a gag order, had failed two of his subjects - Higher Chinese and mathematics - in his mid-year examinations.
On Thursday, the court heard he had never failed any papers from Primary 1 to 4 and his latest results were his first failures.
The coroner said the boy appeared fearful of revealing his poor grades to his parents, and may not have understood, or been able to explain to his parents, that his dip in exam grades would have been expected to be affected by the format changes to prepare him and his cohort to be exam-ready for the PSLE exam.
The coroner said it would also be prudent for parents and educators to always remind a child that their efforts in study may not always yield a commensurate result, and also that such failures are transient or temporary events.
Parents and educators should also constantly re-assure them that they will always be there to help the child through each stumble, winding turn and setback in their education journey, he said in his findings.
Get the full story in our print edition Oct 22.
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