A 16-year-old student, who was preparing for National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) died by suicide by hanging herself in…
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A 16-year-old student, who was preparing for National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) died by suicide by hanging herself in Rajasthan’s Kota.
In just eight months this year, 25 students have died by suicide in Kota, a coaching hub in Rajasthan.
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A resident of Ranchi, the student was currently residing at Blaze Hostel in the city. She hanged herself and the body has been kept in the mortuary.
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Every year, almost two lakh students travel to Kota in the hopes of passing competitive exams like the National Eligibility-cumulative Entrance Test (NEET) and Joint Entrance Exam (JEE).
Authorities reported the largest number of student suicides ever this year—25—which were caused by the stress of the competitive tests.
The number was 15 in 2022, 18 in 2019, 20 in 2018, seven in 2017, 17 in 2016, and 18 in 2015, according to figures from the Rajasthan police. Since the coaching centers were closed due to the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020 and 2021, there were no reports of student suicide in Kota.
The district administration had previously issued an order requiring the installation of spring-loaded fans in all hostel rooms and paying guest lodgings in response to a series of suicides in Kota.
By issuing the directive, Kota district collector Om Prakash Bunkar hoped to “provide mental support and security to the students studying and living in these accommodations, and to prevent suicides from increasing among coaching students.”
In the meantime, the Rajasthan High Court has asked for suggestions on how to prevent student suicides in coaching facilities throughout the state, notably in Kota. In one of the preventive steps, the Rajasthan government has ordered the coaching institutions to stop the tests for the next two months. . In the first meeting of the committee headed by Bhawani Singh Detha, coaching institutes have been asked to organise fun activities and provide motivational content to students through their online portals.
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