Student hangs himself over SPM frustrations

KUALA LUMPUR: Frustrated with not being able to handle the questions in one of the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) paper, a 17-year old pupil of SMK Raja Abdullah here hung to death at his house on Tuesday.
The pupil was found hanging with his necktie around his neck, in his room in Taman Jinjang.
Teachers who were shocked described him as a "bright student".
Sentul deputy police chief Supt Mohd Sukri Kaman who confirmed the incident said they received a distress call about 3.40pm on Tuesday.
It is learnt that the boy became depressed when he could not answer questions in the Additional Mathematics Paper 1.
Sukri said the pupil had informed his teachers that he could not answer the questions and that he wanted to go home but was instead advised to stay.
However, he added, the pupil did not adhere to the teachers' advice and left for home.
He said the teachers became concerned when he failed to turn up in the afternoon for the Additional Mathematics Paper 2 exam.
"One of the teacher called the boy's mother who works in a shopping mall here who in turn asked her relative to check on him," said Sukri, adding the aunt found the boy dead in his room.
Police who ruled out foul play took the body to the Hospital Selayang mortuary for a post-mortem.