Schools forbid students from doing homework and

abolish tests.
Sturenskolan High School in Boden, Sweden, has just chosen to abolish
homework and exams in order to ease student stress.

"That was my idea. Students expressed that they felt drained because they
had been under a lot of pressure throughout the school year. We kept
receiving information that the children were not okay because they were
always stressed. This is how we try to reduce stress for them. The school's
student curriculum is very complex and highly demanding for each
individual. Eliminating homework and tests, except for mandatory national
tests, is an attempt to minimize pressure on children's psychological
development," principal Petronella Sirkka explained.

Overloading homework, according to Stanford University (USA) research,

not only increases stress but also causes problems sleeping and annoyed
other conditions such as headaches. Too much schoolwork paired with
stress causes more than 4,000 middle-class students in California.
Furthermore, extra schoolwork endangers children's health and deprives
them of crucial family time.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 31.9% of teenagers

and 19% of adults in the United States have an anxiety problem.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, the number of
adolescents and teens hospitalized for suicidal ideation has more than
doubled in the last decade.

Sturenskolan, the principal of the school, is aware that her choice will be
met with widespread criticism. "This is not to say that we do not evaluate
or test students." "We simply do not require them to do homework or
study for exams at home," she explained.

Instead, grading will take place exclusively at Sturenskolan during regular

school hours.