Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh is planning to prohibit schools from expelling students who do not perform well academically, an official said on Wednesday. "An increasing number of private institutions have been expelling academically weak students because they want to boast of producing excellent results, which come naturally as all average or below average ones are not allowed to take the board examinations," Uttar Pradesh principal education secretary Arun Kumar Misra told IANS.

The government's attention was drawn to the trend following the recent spate of suicides by teenage students under pressure to perform well.

Lucknow has witnessed five suicides by students over the past nine days. Three of them were students of schools where anyone scoring below 75 percent marks in the pre-board examinations was shown the door.

Misra said: "The recent spurt in suicides by school children was clearly attributable to pressure from schools and parents. We have to rein in institutions that expel students for poor performance."

Asked what the government could do to curb this trend, he said: "We can de-recognise such institutions. After all this is a serious matter since it concerns the lives of students.

"We have taken serious note of the information coming to us from various quarters in this regard. However, before taking a final decision, we do intend to get more feedback on the issue."

With a view to reducing the stress on students, the government is also planning to scrap weekly or monthly tests held in certain schools.

It is also considering asking schools to organise quarterly parent-teacher meetings besides periodic counselling sessions for both students as well as parents. IANS