TOKYO -- Family troubles, problems in school and other worries drove suicides by Japanese public school students up 44 percent last year, the highest level in 12 years, the government said this week.
A total of 192 students in primary, middle and high schools committed suicide during the 1998 school year, far above the 133 in 1997 and the highest since 268 students committed suicide in 1986, the Education Ministry said.About 15 percent of the suicides resulted from family troubles, 7 percent from problems in school -- including bullying -- and another 7 percent from mental illness, the ministry said.
However, Ministry official Takahisa Murakami said the survey failed to explain causes of the suicides in 62 percent of the cases.
He said the rise in adult suicides in 1998 to 31,755 -- a 35 percent jump from 1997 -- may have influenced students psychologically.
Officials say the country's economic problems and other growing social pressures are causing the overall increase.
The country's highly competitive school system, in which children's futures are largely determined by a series of detailed entrance exams, has also come in for harsh criticism for putting too much pressure on children.
Public schools account for almost 90 percent of all primary and secondary school students in Japan.