Suicide prevention in Shanghai schools

In a move to prevent suicide among the city's children more than 3.000 sixth grade pupils in 21 of Shanghai's middle schools will be asked to fill out questionnaires mapping their mental health, with the aim of finding out who might be considered potentially unstable. Those who are found to be at risk will receive psychological assistance from the East China Normal University's counseling center.

The project will be launched by the end of this year. Measures to prevent suicide in this age group seem quite urgent, as four suicide attempts have already been made by middle school students in Shanghai since the beginning of the new semester on September 1. Three of these children survived, but the fourth, a 12 year old boy, died after he jumped out of a sixth floor window.

Photo from sh.eastday.com via ChinaSmack