More than 40 percent of students in Korea feel like quitting school due to stress over school records and boredom with school life, a government survey showed Tuesday.

In an online poll of 31,364 elementary, middle and high school students conducted in July, some 40.3 percent said they wished to leave school.

As the main reason, 41.8 percent cited stress over their school records, followed by boredom with 22.1 percent, relationship with peers with 13.5 percent, and problems with teachers with 6.1 percent.

Of the participants, 43.1 percent of students responded that they discuss their problems with friends, while 30.1 percent said they go to their parents and 18.2 percent keep it to themselves. Only 6.1 percent responded they discuss their problems with their teachers.

The survey also showed that 75.6 percent out of 83,608 respondents of various age groups thought students were low or very low on trust, cooperation and participation, while 60.4 percent believed students had moderate or highly negative attitudes about their lives.

The survey was conducted by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology in cooperation with Internet portal site Naver as part of the government’s efforts to enhance character-building education.

By Sang Youn-joo (sangyj@heraldcorp.com)