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Alice Wu

I’m still reeling from last week’s tragedy in Hong Kong: a mother and her 12-year-old daughter lost their lives to suicide within hours of each other reportedly following an argument about “education problems”.
While the causes of suicide are complex, the incident should prompt reflection within the education system. For years, many have tried to point out the impact academic pressure without adequate support has on students’ mental health. We have also noted the effect on teachers and parents. We have tried to cite statistics in the hope that the government would address the issue.
Our education system seems to have become what has recently been described as a “zero-sum” game.
Students are trained to be exam-takers. In such a system, only results matter. This creates an uncaring culture that degrades the integrity of the learning process. Nurturing children to thrive is inefficient in this system. Test-taking skills take precedence. So we start them young with cramming and extreme rote-learning. It’s survival of the fittest test-takers.
If we are looking to the future, where adaptability, collaboration and creativity will be more important, we had better re-examine what we are teaching our overachieving test-scorers to be.
The current ecosystem creates stress across the board – for teachers, students and parents. Hopes and dreams are seemingly only for those who can beat everyone else in exams.


A recent survey by the Hong Kong Christian Service found that one in 12 secondary students are “checked out” emotionally, socially and academically. This should sound alarm bells. But when we have so many alarms going off, it is perhaps hard to pay attention to each one.
Last year, a survey by the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups found that 63.5 per cent of secondary school students felt “down, depressed or hopeless”, and nearly 30 per cent had thought about harming or killing themselves, in the 2024-2025 school year.
Education authorities are well aware of the problem. Their own numbers show that over just five academic years, the number of secondary school students suffering from mental illness doubled and primary school pupils afflicted with mental illness rose 54 per cent. Between 2024 and last year, the bureau found that the number of suspected suicide cases among primary and secondary school pupils rose by 10 per cent.
The bureau appears to believe the surge in students diagnosed with mental illness is indicative of the government’s good work. “It shows the [government’s] work has yielded some results, as parents are now willing to accept support services,” Secretary of Education Christine Choi Yuk-lin told lawmakers. She also believes that our education system will help boost birth rates.

The government has adopted a three-tier system to strengthen schools’ ability to detect and handle high-risk cases. However, it’s not foolproof.
It’s better than nothing, but clearly not enough. Paul Yip, the founding director of the Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention at the University of Hong Kong, says the mechanism is based on “early detection and treatment of symptomatic cases rather than addressing the causes”.
Yip’s centre has developed 10 principles for building “Well-being First” schools that help students do well academically and mentally. These proposals should be applauded and adopted. Yip admitted that moving forward will need a change in mindset. Are our authorities ready?
Looking at our kindergarten children who are preparing for various primary school admission interviews right now, it’s apparent that we are up against a leviathan. Preschool children are expected to display a level of academic ability and emotional and social intelligence beyond their years. Children are required to be able to answer many different questions designed, according to a former admissions employee, to see if kids can handle them without breaking down.

Tips offered to anxious families include preparing their children to be extraordinary storytellers. They should get the basics down, such as the setting and main characters, plotline and a resolution at the end. There are bonus points for going above and beyond, with unexpected plot twists and making sure the story has a moral or lesson. And this is only for families who can afford to try and escape the Diploma of Secondary Education exam system.
What lessons do the tragic deaths of students and parents linked to academic pressure or the growing number of checked-out or depressed students hold? Perhaps that those who have the power to make life less Hobbesian for children, teachers and parents need a change of heart and a real action plan.


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Pursuit of academic excellence in Hong Kong shouldn’t be a deadly race

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Paul Yip, director of the University of Hong Kong’s Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, says the tragedy also shows that even professionals have their own issues to tackle. Photo: Sun Yeung

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The tragic loss of a parent and her child should prompt policymakers to reflect on an education system that has come to be seen as a ‘zero-sum’ game


The tragic loss of a parent and her child should prompt policymakers to reflect on an education system that has come to be seen as a ‘zero-sum’ game.


Mental health

Education in Hong Kong

Hong Kong youth

Suicides in Hong Kong

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Pursuit of academic excellence in Hong Kong shouldn’t be a deadly race

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The tragic loss of a parent and her child should prompt policymakers to reflect on an education system that has come to be seen as a ‘zero-sum’ game

The tragic loss of a parent and her child should prompt policymakers to reflect on an education system that has come to be seen as a ‘zero-sum’ game