Upset with 'only' 99% in exam, 9-year-old inserts four needles in stomach

In a shocking incident, a 9-year-old boy in China inserted four sewing needles into his stomach as a form of self-punishment for scoring ‘only’ 99 percent in his exam. [caption id=“attachment_1415229” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] Doctors in Heilongjiang Province spent over two hours removing the needles buried in the child’s stomach. The boy’s father found lumps on his son’s stomach while bathing him, but the boy would not let him check closely, ‘Global Times’ reported. Later, the boy suffered intense stomach pain and was admitted to The 2nd Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University. The youngster said he had pierced his stomach with the needles as punishment for not scoring 100 per cent in his final exams as he did previously, the report said. He stuck himself with two needles at the start of the winter holiday, and another two as the new term was about to begin, the boy said. Surveys have shown that pressure to succeed sets in early for Chinese students, so much so that one in four secondary students consider suicide. The report said China’s students were ranked as the most stressed in the world in 2009, with high school students having longest study hours as compared to those in Japan, US and Korea. PTI