Two coaching students die by suicide within three hours in Kota

Two coaching students die by suicide within three hours in Kota

Two coaching students die by suicide within three hours in Kota BySenjuti Sengupta Jan 22, 2025 07:12 PM IST Share Via Copy Link Jaipur: Two NEET and JEE students died by suicide in Kota, raising 2024's toll to six. Last year saw 20 such cases, prompting stricter guidelines for coaching institutes.

Jaipur: At least two students preparing for the National Entrance Eligibility Test (NEET) and Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) died by suicide on Wednesday morning in Rajasthan’s Kota, bringing the toll of such cases to six in the first 22 days of this year, according to the police.

Last year, at least 20 students died by suicide in Kota, down from 27 a year ago (Getty Images)

Last year, at least 20 students died by suicide in Kota, down from 27 a year ago.

A 23-year-old student, who was preparing for NEET for admission to an undergraduate medical course died by suicide around 10 am, said a police officer privy to the matter.

“The student, a native of Gujarat’s Ahmedabad, arrived in Kota six months ago and had been staying in a hostel to prepare for NEET in a reputed coaching institute,” said station house officer (SHO) of Kota’s Jawahar Nagar police station, Ram Laxman Gurjar.

Gurjar said that the student hung herself from the ceiling fan of her hostel room on Wednesday morning.

“When she did not respond to several knocks by his hostel mates, the hostel owner broke open the door,” Gurjar said, adding that no suicide note was recovered from her place.

Within three hours, an 18-year-old student from Assam’s Nagaon area who was preparing to sit for JEE (Mains) exam in five days, hung himself at his Kota hostel, said the officer.

“The 18-year-old had arrived to Kota two years ago. His mother, who was visiting him, had gone to the market. She returned and found the boy dead at his room,” said Gurjar.

Amid a surge in suicide cases in Kota, where students from all over the country arrive in huge numbers after completing Class 10 to prepare for various competitive exams — including JEE and NEET-UG — the administration in August 2023 issued several guidelines for hostels and paying guest (PG) accommodations, including installation of spring-loaded fans in rooms “to provide students mental support and security”.

Gurjar said that a probe will be launched on the violation of the guidelines by the hostel authority despite several warnings.

Last Friday, another 18-year-old NEET aspirant from Odisha died by suicide. Earlier this month, two other JEE aspirants were also found dead inside their hostels in Kota. The first incident took place on January 7 night when a 19-year-old JEE aspirant from Haryana hung himself at his hostel accommodation in Rajeev Gandhi Nagar and on January 8 a 20-year-old student from Madhya Pradesh was found dead at his hostel accommodation in Vigyan Nagar.

Kota is the centre of India’s test-prep industry, estimated to be worth ₹10,000 crore annually, according to officials in the district administration.Students register in residential test-prep institutes and also enrol in schools, most of which are largely for purposes of certification.

Students attend classes only in the test-prep institutes, which prepare them for their Class XII examination, but more importantly, entrance examinations such as NEET and Joint Entrance Examination (JEE). Some students find the grind stressful, especially because they are away from their families.

According to police data, 15 students died by suicide in Kota in 2022, 18 in 2019, 20 in 2018, seven in 2017, 17 in 2016, and 18 in 2015. No suicides were reported in 2020 and 2021 as coaching institutes were shut or ran in online mode due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

On September 28, 2023, the Rajasthan government implemented a series of measures to prevent suicides among students, such as a mandatory screening test, alphabetical sorting of students into sections instead of ranking them, and the admission of students who are in Class IX or higher.

On January 16, 2024, the union education minister also released specific instructions for the functioning of coaching centres and restricted enrolment to students above the age of 16. The guidelines warned of a penalty of ₹1,00,000 for institutes in case of any violation of the terms and conditions.

Some key proposals of the bill include the establishment of a two-tier administrative system to monitor coaching institutes across Rajasthan, mandatory registration of coaching centres with the district administration, limiting coaching study hours to 5 hours per day, barring institutes from scheduling classes during school hours to avoid the practice of ‘dummy schools’, and imposing a ₹1,00,000 penalty on institutes that violate the guidelines.