With input from CNN-IBN and DNA

Kerala, May 30: Prince Thomas of Aluva in Kerala committed suicide on Tuesday night despite scoring 91 per cent in higher secondary school exams. The results were announced on Monday.

Thomas was scared that his family might not be able to afford his higher education. He wanted to pursue a career in nursing and has even applied for a BSc Nursing course in a Thiruvanthapuram college. He has also applied for his engineering and medical entrance exams

“He was very brilliant in studies and we were all happy about his result. His interest was to join BSc nursing and he collected and filled the admission form from the nursing college. Around 1 am. I woke up and I saw the light in his room. I thought that he was on his studies or forgot to switch off the light. So I knocked on the door. But when it was not opened, then I broke it open saw him hanging,” says Prince’s father M C Thomas.

His father had already sold off family property after suffering huge losses in business. Even Prince’s sister secured admission in a nursing college only after paying a large amount as donation.

Prince did not want to add to the family’s existing troubles.

"He was good at his studies. We have lot of financial problems but we believed that it could be overcome, because he was brilliant and hardworking. We thought we’d arrange finance as loan or somehow spend for his studies. After the results, he was very happy and we all celebrated," says Prince’s mother Beena Thomas.

Prince had also applied for engineering and medical competitive exams.

In the cut-throat competitive world, it’s not uncommon for students to buckle under pressure and resort to extreme measures – even suicide – if expectations, performance and results don’t match.

However, while this may hold true for students who may not be able to score well in their exams, one always expects a school topper to be on cloud nine. But what if the topper thinks he might not be able to study further because of financial difficulties?