A 17-year-old student named Aditya Seth committed suicide in June after moving to Kota this year to study for a medical entrance exam. In a suicide note that he left behind, he claimed that he had committed suicide of his own free will. This incident is one of the 19 suicides that have occurred in Kota, Rajasthan, this year. With an estimated 300 institutes, Kota has quickly established itself as a coaching centre. The coaching environment that has grown in Kota is crucial to several sectors. But it has also brought with it the reputation as the “suicide capital” of the state.
However, parents keep sending their kids to Kota’s coaching schools. This demonstrates the dichotomy between young people’s rising expectations and the strong scholastic pressure that drives some of them to extreme measures.
The data underlying the alarmingly high rate of suicides in Kota, Rajasthan. In Kota’s coaching facilities, more than 1 lakh students were registered as of 2021. In 2023, this figure increased to above 2 lakh. Kota saw a 43% growth in student enrollment between 2021 and 2023. On the other side, there have been more student suicides throughout time. 19 incidences of student suicide have been recorded in the first half of 2023.
Only after many students left home because of the Covid-19 outbreak did the suicide rate start to decline.
What Drive Students to Kota?
Despite the suicide incidents, Kota continues to attract students since many of them use it as a stepping stone to elite engineering and medical schools. The quality of basic and secondary education differs significantly in several states. Many students are under a great deal of strain because of the skill sets needed to thrive in competitive tests.
According to some students who spoke with the media, they frequently lack the contextual and logical knowledge of the courses needed to succeed in admission tests. They claimed that this is the reason they find it so challenging to complete the courses in Kota.
Pressure from homes and institutions
According to Saumya Kumari, a student preparing for the IIT JEE, “Sometimes, students who come from outside find it difficult to cope with peer pressure and parental expectations”. Some of these children, who come from different places like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, are aware that their parents have borrowed money to pay for their education. And that occasionally adds to the strain.
Spending between Rs. 1.5 lakh and Rs. 5 lakh a year to study for competitive exams is almost mandatory for students here. Resonance Coaching Institute’s Vice-President stated that actions have been taken to assist students in de-stressing when speaking about the mental health of students at Kota.
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