Representative image.
Credit: PTI Photo
Famous for its paintings, palaces and places of worship, Rajasthan's Kota has been in the news in recent months for all the wrong reasons. While students' failing mental health and suicides have been a cause of concern pan-India, Rajasthan's coaching hub has seen 22 suicides this year, with two students ending their lives within a gap of few hours on August 27. Last year, the figure stood at 15.
The peer pressure to come out better, a packed study schedule and cut-throat competition often plague students who leave their families for the first time to take coaching classes in the city.
But the constant news of suicides rocking the Rajasthan city has done little to diminish the number of students signing up to join the coaching institutes for competitive exams, a report in India Today said.
Over 2 lakh students move to Kota annually to prepare for competitive exams such as the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) for engineering and the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to medical colleges.
The report said a look at the admissions from 2021 to 2023 showed that student enrollment in Kota rose by 43 per cent. The Covid-19 pandemic, which affected everything else, did impact the number of student enrollments in 2020.
But along with the admissions in institutes, suicides also rose in the city and 2023 saw the highest number of 22 student suicides, as of now.
The report said most students and parents see the city's coaching institutes as a stepping stone to get into prestigious institutions for medical and engineering education. Also education standards at some small towns are not considered up to par with that of the big cities and hence, parents and students end up signing up for the coaching institutes in Kota.
"Sometimes, students who come from outside find it difficult to cope with peer pressure and parental expectations", Saumya Kumari, a student preparing for IIT JEE told India Today.
Out of concern for their children, now many parents are choosing to shift to Kota with the students to ensure they are not stressed while preparing for entrance exams and do not take any extreme step.
Many parents, averse to the idea of putting their children in hostels, are renting accommodation in Kota and staying with their children by even taking sabbaticals.
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