JAIPUR: An 18-year-old student undergoing coaching for IIT entrance died by suicide in Kota, widely known as an education hub.
The teenager, identified as Valmiki Prasad Jangid of Gaya in Bihar, hanged himself inside his room on the night of August 14.
This is the fourth suicide of this month and the 21st since January 2023. There have been two cases of suicide attempts.
A local police officer Paramjeet said that the police received information about the incident on the night of August 15. When Valmiki was not to be seen the whole day, his friends went and knocked on his door. But there was no response.
Subsequently, the landlord was informed and the police were informed. The police broke the door open and found Valmiki dead inside the room.
Valmiki was preparing for the second session of the IIT entrance. Valmiki's father, Vinod, a retired Army man, accompanied by relatives reached Kota on Wednesday morning. Vinod told reporters that when his son last called home on the evening of August 14, he showed no signs of distress.
Kota has a total of about 40 big and small institutes catering to nearly 1.5 lakh engineering and medical aspirants.
With over 10 lakh students from all over the country appearing for JEE Mains to secure about 1700 seats in 23 IITs, the competition is fierce. The deep-rooted bias in India for engineering and medical professions makes ambitious parents bring their children here so that they can make it to the IITs or medical colleges.
Kota’s fame as India’s ‘coaching capital’ is also the reason for its notoriety as a ‘suicide city’ and the measures taken by administration and institutes to bring down the insane stress of competition, which proves too much to handle for many teenage students, have been inadequate,
Even Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot recently expressed his concern regarding the rising incidence of suicides in Kota. Speaking at a 'Yuva Mahapanchayat' in Jaipur, he voiced his worry, stating, "The escalating count of 20 student suicides over the past eight months in Kota is disconcerting. We need to do our best to check this trend."
Students in Kota appear to employ methods that leave little possibility of survival. The research underscores six primary reasons for these tragic occurrences, which encompass academic, physical, and psychological including love affairs, family, major life events, and socio-economic stressors.
As they find themselves all alone in a city without any emotional or moral support from parents, students — many of whom have moved away from home for the first time — find it difficult to cope with the stress of studies and competition.
The coaching institutes organise periodic tests, generally once every three weeks. The results are communicated to parents via messages and letters. A lot of students are unable to face the embarrassment of faring poorly on these tests. Students who got a high percentage of marks in schools fare poorly on review tests. They don’t know how to explain this to their parents.
Test performance decides the batch a student is assigned. When the rank of a student slips, he or she is put to ‘lower’ batches, which hurts his or her self-esteem.
District Collector OP Bunkar noted that the reasons behind these suicides are complex, with academic pressure and parental expectations being significant factors. Efforts are underway to offer counselling to students who are unwilling to train in Kota, along with involving parents in the decision-making process. Authorities are diligently implementing measures to stem this distressing wave of suicides, including motivational seminars, psychological assessments, and designated days free from testing obligations.
(If you are having suicidal thoughts, or are worried about a friend or need emotional support, someone is always there to listen. Call Sneha Foundation - 04424640050 (available 24x7) or iCall, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences' helpline - 02225521111, which is available Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 10 pm.)