Coaching in Kota: Amid cut-throat competition, students fight homesickness, stress

Packed schedules, cut-throat competition, constant pressure to do better and homesickness is what many students preparing for competitive exams in the country's "coaching capital" Kota deal with every day.

These factors can often trigger anxiety and lead to "weak moments" for students, says Pragati Gupta, a NEET aspirant from Madhya Pradesh.

With the recent suicide of three students preparing for competitive exams here, the focus is back on factors that push students to take the extreme step.

"Whoever comes here is somewhere mentally prepared for the tough journey ahead but the preparation period is long and some of us have left our families behind for the first time. So, the academic pressure clubbed with homesickness triggers a cycle which often creates weak moments for us," said Gupta.

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Sandeep Tiwari from Uttar Pradesh's Etawah told PTI that the 10-month preparatory programme is so hectic that it is not possible to visit home during breaks.

"Even if there are breaks, there is always a fear of lagging behind. It is like running on a treadmill and you cannot miss a single step. If you miss two days of classes, you lag behind by two weeks and there is no going back," he said.

Tiwari said he hasn't had the time to visit his family since he came here in April.

Animesh Kumar, a 17-year-old from Motihari in Bihar who is preparing for a second attempt at the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET), said its a vicious cycle of struggling to keep pace with the hectic classes, blaming oneself and getting stressed.

"Study stress is real. When a student fails to keep pace with things and the backlog of lectures keeps growing, he starts blaming himself and his way of studying and gets stressed and depressed," Kumar said.

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Over 2 lakh students are currently enrolled in various coaching centres here.

Another student Afzal said he feels the added pressure of ensuring that his parents' money does not go waste.

"I thought that I will be able to focus more on my preparation once I move here but it is a different world altogether. Now not only do I have to manage everything on my own but I also keep thinking that my parents have invested money and what if I am unable to deliver," he said.

At least 14 students studying in coaching centres here have committed suicide this year.

Of the three students who committed suicide last week, NEET aspirant Ankush Anand (18) and JEE aspirant Ujjwal Kumar (17), both from Bihar, were found hanging from ceiling fans in their rooms at their paying guest (PG) accommodation on December 12, according to police.

The third student, Pranav Verma (17), a NEET aspirant from Madhya Pradesh, allegedly consumed a poisonous substance in his hostel on December 11.

However, no student suicide was reported in 2021, when the coaching centres here were shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic and students attended online classes from their homes.

The number of suicides by coaching centre students stood at 18 in 2019 and 20 in 2020.

"Two students, despite being friends, are competitors and always in a race. The feeling that everybody is vying for the same seat often isolates students here and the homesickness just adds to it," said a JEE aspirant who did not wish to be named.