A SURVEY has found that an alarming 24 per cent of local children have thought of committing suicide, 5.85 per cent have planned to commit suicide, and 1.71 per cent have actually tried but failed. Even more worrying is that most of the parents knew nothing about it, the Shanghai Labour Daily has reported.

The survey, conducted by the Medical College of Fudan University and Shanghai Educational Science Institute, covered more than 2,500 children aged from 10 to 17 in eight districts in the city.

Over 24 per cent of the children surveyed said they once had the idea that "death is better than living" and more than 15 per cent said they thought seriously about dying.

Professor Gao Hongyun from the Shanghai Children's Hospital said the reasons for committing suicide differed between various age groups. Primary school pupils mostly feel frustrated because of straitened family financial circumstances or because of problems with their teachers. Middle school students would be upset over inferior achievement at school or by too much homework.

Yang Zuoyan, a researcher for education, said the biggest factor in youth suicides was failed love affairs. A lack of sex education left some children confused about "puppy love". Xiao Min