Kota Suicides: Bhawani Singh Detha who has been named as the head of the Panel constituted to suggest measures to prevent the growing suicide rate among the students in Rajasthan.
Took a meeting on Monday for a discussion on the preventive measures to check suicides. Several measures have been suggested by the committee to reduce pressure on students, following a spate of suicides in the coaching hub of Rajasthan, Kota.
Conducting fun activities that will de-stress students, or uploading motivational videos on the online platform to consider the reduction of syllabus that would reduce pressure on students, the committee suggested numerous preventive measures to reduce the growing suicide rate in Kota.
The meeting took place after 2 students who were preparing for the pre-medical entrance test died by suicide on Sunday. The meeting to discuss the measures to de-stress students was also attended by the Kota Collector, representatives of coaching institutes, and the hostel association.
The committee was formed by CM Ashok Gehlot, earlier this month and is expected to submit its report within 15 days after it visits Kota.
The Detha-led committee also directed the institutions to form a panel of subject experts to suggest the reduction of the syllabus that would reduce the pressure on the students.
The committee also stated that the students will be asked to fill out Google forms daily that will help to identify vulnerable students and provide any help if needed.
The coaching institutes have also been directed to track students who seem to be suffering from some pressure, skip classes, perform poorly in the tests, or seem doubtful, Bunkar said.
According to Psychiatrist Vinayak Pathak, most students do not follow the guidelines and also discriminate between the students by providing special treatment to the toppers, making the situation more complex.
The situation in Rajasthan’s coaching hub has been quite disturbing, with 23 students dying from suicide this year alone, which is the highest since 2015 when the official recordkeeping began.
What is more disturbing is that 6 of the 23 deaths, took place in August alone, which forced the institutions to suspend tests for 2 months. It is worth mentioning that 15 students died by suicide in 2022, 18 in 2019, 20 in 2018, 7 in 2017, 17 in 2016 and 18 in 2015 when recordkeeping began.
Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas, took the coaching institutes on task saying that all of them were money-minded and harassed the students.
Kota’s Motion Institute’s CEO, Nitin Vijay defended the institutes saying that a definite fee structure is followed everywhere, even in the government institutions.
We prepare the children for competitive examinations. Such examinations provide the country with some brilliant minds and it is important for the development of the country as well, he added.
It is worth noting that the test preparation business is over Rs. 10000 crore annually in Kota and students from all around the nation arrive there after Class 10 to begin their preparations.
