The suicides of the students are putting a big stigma on the city of Kota.

Kota city of Rajasthan has become the biggest coaching market in the country. Every year lakhs of students come here for coaching. Due to which the coaching operators earn several thousand crores annually. However, not all the students coming to Kota are successful in the medical and engineering exams. But among the students who get selected in the top medical and engineering institutes of the country, the number of students taking coaching in Kota is also considerable. That is why parents send their children to Kota for coaching. Students taking coaching in Kota have to spend lakhs of rupees every year. Even after the parents of many students are not in a position to bear such expenses, they send their children to Kota with the hope that if he/she is successful in the examination, he/she will become an engineer or doctor in future. For this, people get buried under the burden of debt of lakhs of rupees.

The incidents of suicides by the students studying in Kota, the big center of coaching, are putting a stigma on the city. Last August itself, five students doing coaching in Kota had committed suicide. In the 8 months of the year 2023, so far 23 students have committed suicide in Kota. In the last 5 years, 70 students have committed suicide here. The whole country is in a state of shock due to the continuous incidents of suicides by students studying in coaching institutes in Kota. Even after lakhs of efforts by the government and the administration, the incidents of suicide by the students of Kota are not stopping. Most of the students who commit suicide in Kota come from poor or middle class families. In the same year, out of 23 students who have committed suicide, 19 are boys and four are girls. Out of these 17 students were preparing for NEET exam while 6 students were preparing for JEE exam.

The main reason for suicide by students in Kota is believed to be the psychological pressure on the students to study. Most of the students coming to study in Kota are from middle class families. Their parents are not financially capable. In order to provide higher education to their children, they arrange money at various levels and send quota to the children for coaching. Students coming to Kota know that with great difficulty their parents send them to Kota to take coaching.

In such a situation, if he is not successful, his parents will remain in debt for the rest of their lives. Thinking of this, the student always feels psychological pressure. Apart from this, there is a lot of pressure of studies on the students studying in Kota. All the coaching institutes running here operate in multiple shifts. In which studies are done in different batches. Students studying in Kota are under pressure from parents and coaching institutes to get good marks in medical or engineering exams.

Coaching institutes also keep students as machines in order to show good results. There is pressure of studies on the students every day and students keep studying day and night in order to pass the weekly test. Due to which neither their sleep is complete nor they are able to rest mentally. In such a situation, the student gets stressed due to waking up early and going to the coaching institute to study and being busy throughout the day. Many students coming from outside take inhuman steps like suicide for fear of falling behind in studies.

MLA Panachand Meghwal had asked a question in the assembly regarding the increasing cases of suicides of coaching students in Kota. In response to which the main reasons cited by the government for suicide were lack of self-confidence of the students due to their lagging behind in the tests in the coaching center, parents having high ambitions from the students, physical, mental and academic stress among the students. Prominent reasons included birth, financial hardship, blackmailing and love affair.

Kota was once a big industrial city of Rajasthan. But due to the labor movement and strike, gradually the industries and businesses here were closed. There came a time when only nominal industries were left in Kota. During 1990, coaching institutes started opening in Kota city. Around the year 2005, a large number of coaching institutes were established here, in which lakhs of students started studying every year. Today coaching institute has become a huge business in Kota. The economy of entire Kota city is dependent on these coaching institutes only. Big hoardings littered with the success of students at every square of Kota city tell that now coaching is everything in Kota. It is true that the success rate in Kota is above thirty percent. In the country’s engineering and medical competitive examinations, five students from Kota are in the top ten. But along with that there is a large number of students in Kota who fail.

Today Kota is the super market of coaching in the country. According to an estimate, the annual turnover of the coaching market of Kota is four thousand crores. An estimated 300-400 crore rupees are given annually to the government by the coaching centers as tax. In Kota, 200 coaching institutes from all the well-known institutions of the country to small ones are running. Even Delhi, Mumbai as well as many foreign coaching institutes are also opening their centers in Kota. About 2.5 lakh students are taking coaching from these institutes. The main reason for the success in Kota is the teachers here. Students studying in engineering and medical colleges like IITs and AIIMS are leaving jobs in big companies and hospitals and teaching in coaching institutes here. Due to high salary, more than 75 IIT pass students are teaching in Kota city alone.

Concerned over the rising incidents of suicides in Kota, the Rajasthan government has swung into action. Taking quick steps, the government has banned all kinds of tests for the next two months. A separate police station will be opened for the students doing coaching in Kota. Such fans will be installed in the hostel rooms in which the device will be fitted and if someone tries to hang on the fan, the siren in the device will alert the people. The government has also formed a team of psychiatrists to conduct a detailed study of the mental stress of the students, who will meet the students to investigate the reasons behind the suicides.

No matter how much the government tries on its part. As long as the students studying in Kota start studying with an open mind without any pressure, only then the atmosphere here will improve. The coaching institutes running here have to create a positive environment by stopping the competition being run at the mechanical level. Only then the students studying in Kota will be able to study feeling safe. Unless the coaching institutes operating in Kota stop considering their work as a machine to earn money and treat their students sensitively, then the situation in Kota will not improve.

Ramesh Saraf Dhamora

(The author is a freelance journalist accredited by the Government of Rajasthan. His articles continue to be published in many newspapers of the country.)