2 NEET aspirants commit suicide shortly after taking mock exam, Kota coaching centres told to halt routine tests

Kota: Amid rising suicide cases among NEET students in Rajasthan's Kota, the district administration has issued directions to stop conducting routine tests and examinations at coaching centres for two months with immediate effect.

The Kota district administration, citing the need for mental support, stayed the tests and examinations for two months. 

"In order to provide mental support and security to the studying/residential students, the examinations, being conducted from time to time, in all coaching institutes operating in Kota, have been stayed with immediate effect for the next two months," read an official release by the district administration on Sunday.

The order came after 2 NEET aspirants committed suicide shortly after taking a NEET mock test on Sunday.

Two NEET aspirants commit suicide within hours

A 17-year-old boy from Maharashtra’s Latur who ended his life after jumping off the sixth floor of a coaching institute’s building in Kota in Rajasthan was a sincere and clever student and had gone there for NEET coaching following in the footsteps of his brother, said his kin and friends on Monday.

Avishkar Kasle died at 3:15 pm in Kota’s Jawahar Nagar area on Sunday, minutes after taking a mock National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) paper, police in the northwestern state had said.

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He was a resident of Ujana village in Latur’s Ahmedpur tehsil. He had completed his primary and secondary education in Ahmedpur and was preparing for medical entrance exams for the last three years, they said, adding that he was staying in the Talwandi area in Kota along with his grandparents.

On Sunday, hours after Avishkar ended his life, an 18-year-old student, Adarsh Raj, who was also preparing for a competitive exam, hanged himself in his rented flat in the Kunhadi police station area at around 7 pm, as per Kota police.

“His mother works in a government department in Kinwat in Nanded district. Avishkar’s brother had attended coaching classes in Kota and is now pursuing engineering in Hyderabad. Avishkar was a sincere and clever student and went to Kota following his brother’s stint there,” kin PTI.

According to Rajasthan authorities, 24 students preparing for competitive exams in Kota district have ended their lives so far in 2023 — the highest for any year. Last year, the figure was 15.

Earlier this month, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot formed a committee to probe rising suicide cases among students, asking it to submit its report at the earliest.

Earlier, citing data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data on student suicides, CM Gehlot said, “According to NCRB, around 13,000 students died by suicide in 2021. Maharashtra recorded the maximum number of suicides at 1,834, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 1,308, Tamil Nadu at 1,246, Karnataka at 855 and Odisha at 834. This is a problem which could be solved only through a collective effort.”

An official release stated that the state government was "serious and sensitive" towards the issue of student deaths.

Amid concerns around the mental health of students at Kota, the district administration, in a controversial approach to deal with the problem, ordered the installation of spring-loaded fans in all rooms “to provide students mental support and security”.

Expressing concern over rising student deaths in Kota, Gehlot earlier sought to underline the burden being put on students of standards 9 and 10 by enrolling them at coaching institutes in Kota.

"Enrolling students of classes 9 and 10 at our coaching institutes puts an additional burden on them, as they also have to appear for their board exams. In a way, this is a crime," the CM said.  

Measures to curb rising suicide cases

‘Half-day study, half-day fun’ on one weekday, identification of students with suicidal tendencies and psychological counselling are among the decisions taken on Monday in a meeting on the rising suicide cases in Kota.

Representatives of coaching institutes and hostel associations also attended the meeting chaired by Bhawani Singh Detha, principal secretary (higher and technical education), through video conference, officials said.

Detha is also the chairman of a committee formed on the direction of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot to look into the issue. The committee will visit Kota on September 2 to take stock of the situation.

Among the other decisions taken in the meeting, coaching institutes have been asked to form a committee of subject experts in an attempt to reduce the burden of courses on students.

The institutes have also been asked to hold online motivational sessions by experts and upload the same on social media for the benefit of all students.

It was decided in the meeting that the coaching institutes will hold ‘half-day study, half-day fun’ every Wednesday and they will not conduct any routine tests for the next two days, the officials said.

A form will be developed for coaching students to fill in every day so that their mental status can be assessed.

Besides, absentees from the routine tests and poor performers will be identified and they will be provided psychological counselling, the officials said.

The other officials who attended the meeting included Kota Collector O P Bunkar, SP Sharad Chaudhary, Additional Collector (Administration) Rajkumar Singh, and Additional SP Bhagwat Singh Hingad.

“It is an alarming situation as so many students are committing suicides,” Kota district collector Bunkar told reporters here after the meeting on Monday afternoon.

The preliminary meeting was held to discuss short and long-term measures to check the rising suicide cases, he added.

The decision on immediate and long-term measures taken in the meeting to check suicide cases would help release the stress of the students and create a favourable environment, Bunkar added.

Kota City SP Choudhary proposed to set up an exclusive police station for students.

“As an expansion of students’ police helpdesk already functional, I gave the idea of setting up a police station for students in Kota to address their concerns,” Chaudhary told reporters.

The draft proposal for an exclusive students’ police station would be sent to the state government for sanction in the next few days, the SP (City) said.

Debt burden on parents troubling students

Expressing concern over the increase in student suicides in Kota, a Rajasthan minister on Monday said the education loan burden on parents is one of the causes of stress among the aspirants and the Centre must formulate a policy so that parents don’t have to borrow money for education.

“The pressure of studies is there. Apart from this, several students have the burden of their parents having borrowed money for their studies. So, if they fail, what will happen to their parents,” Public Health and Engineering Department (PHED) Minister Mahesh Joshi told reporters in Jaipur.

He said the students live away from their homes and parents and this too is an additional burden on them which leads to suicides.

“The central government should make a policy regarding coaching institutes. There should be a system wherein parents do not have to take loans as it puts too much pressure on the students to succeed,” he said.

The students think, “What will happen (to my family) if I do not succeed” as their parents have taken huge loans to educate them, he said.

Over two 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.

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