- What to do to stop suicide? Within four hours of the committee being formed to make its recommendations, two students committed suicide

- The middle class finds medical and engineering as the two best careers for their children. Most of the middle class people have the absurd mentality that self-indulgent children will be successful only if they choose one of these two careers, otherwise they will be considered failures. Due to this, admission in reputed engineering colleges like IIT or NIT or medical colleges like AIIMS is their target. For that you have to score well in JEE and NEET. Parents put so much pressure on their children to get this good score that students break down in the fear of not being able to achieve it.

The issue of rising suicides of students taking coaching in Kota, Rajasthan to seek admission in top medical and engineering colleges of the country has been in the news for a long time but nothing was being done. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had formed a committee to make recommendations on what to do to stop suicides after expressing concern over the increasing number of suicides.

Before this committee started its work, the system went into overdrive as two Students Committed Suicide within a span of just 4 hours on Sunday. The district administration of Safala Jagela Kota has issued an order that all coaching classes will not conduct weekly test for two months.

Among the students who Committed Suicide on Sunday, Aviskhar Sambhaji from Maharashtra's Latur was just 16 years old yesterday while Adarsh ​​Raj from Bihar was 18 years old. Avishkar committed suicide by jumping from the sixth floor of his hostel while Adarsh ​​hanged himself. Avishkar was preparing for NEET for three years and within five minutes of coming out of the exam hall after giving the weekly test, he committed suicide. Same thing happened in case of Adarsh ​​Raj, it means, this must have been happening for a long time, the paper must have gone badly and both of them must have felt that the expected result is not coming, so they must have got depressed.

The Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) for engineering admissions and the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) for medical admissions are considered to be the toughest exams as millions of students appear for the exam and hence the competition is high. Students are committing suicide fearing that they will not pass this exam.

A total of 25 students including Aviskar and Adarsh ​​have committed suicide this year. It is still the beginning of the year and the weekly tests have already started, so everyone is worried about what will happen by the end of the year.

Kota district administration has also ordered to take some other measures to prevent suicide among students. Every hostel has been asked to put a net around it so that even if someone jumps off, they are saved.

It is also said to install spring-loaded fans in every room of the hostel so that in case of suicide attempts, the fan falls down. Orders have also been given to assign responsibility to people to monitor the students and counsel them immediately if any student appears depressed.

The police have also been asked to be alert as most of the suicide cases occur soon after the weekly-fortnightly tests conducted by the coaching classes. In these circumstances, if there is a police station outside the coaching center where there is a test, if any of the students who are coming out look depressed or are seen leaving quickly, if they are immediately stopped and calmed down, the risk of suicide will subside. The decision to commit suicide is made in a momentary impulse. No one commits suicide when that urge subsides.

It is good that the Kota district administration has woken up late but it is doubtful whether the measures ordered will stop the suicides. This is because the problem is psychological and more so social. Whatever measures the system takes, it does not make much difference because students who commit suicide take such extreme measures out of fear of their families. In order for students not to do that, there is a need to change the mindset of people, to change the beliefs about success that have become entrenched in the middle class.

This is the reason why suicides have increased in Kota, but actually this is a problem of the whole country because like Kota, students are committing suicide everywhere.

It cannot be denied that the middle class works hard to provide good education to their children. Despite not having the power to spend on their own, most of the middle class people do not hesitate to spend extra money to teach in a good school, get good tuition, etc. Their aim behind doing all this is to give their children a better future, but unfortunately, along with this aim, they also have big expectations.

The middle class finds medical and engineering as the two best careers for their children. Most of the middle class people have the absurd mentality that if their children choose one of these two careers then they are considered successful, otherwise they are considered failures.

Due to this, admission in reputed engineering colleges like IIT or NIT or medical colleges like AIIMS is their target. For that you have to score well in JEE and NEET.

Parents put so much pressure on their children to get this good score that students break down in the fear of not being able to achieve it. Parents also fear that if their children do not score well, they will be ridiculed in the society, so the pressure is on. If the score is not good, the student commits suicide fearing that the parents will be upset.

Parents have to be wise to avoid this situation. One has to develop the mindset that medical and engineering is not the only world or a successful career. You have to give warmth to your child continuously, even if you try but don't get a good score, there is no worry.

Parents will be so wise and sensitive that no student will commit suicide under the pressure of studying.

Up to 1 crore package to teachers, 10 thousand crore business

Kota's coaching class business is so big that anyone's eyes will burst. More than 100 classes for JEE-Main for important engineering degrees including IITs and NITs and NEET exams for admission to medical courses are full of quota. About 40 of these classes are where more than four thousand students are studying.

Kota's coaching class business is said to have an annual turnover of over Rs 10,000 crore. About two lakh students from across the country come to Kota for coaching. Fees starting from 5 lakh rupees to 2 crore rupees are charged from them.

A luxurious AC hostel has been built for the accommodation and study of these students. More than 10,000 teachers work to coach the students, out of which many are engineers from institutes like IITs and NITs. IITs and NITs with coaching classes only take them up on placements. The teachers whose names have been done get a package of up to one crore rupees annually.

45 students committed suicide in 2014, the actual figure is much higher

The fact that students commit suicide out of frustration in Kota may have come to people's attention now, but it has been going on for years. Even if we do not go back too long and look at the statistics given by the police for the last ten years, this will be understood.

According to these statistics, 45 students committed suicide in 2014. In 2015, 17 students committed suicide while in 2016, 16 students committed suicide. 7 students committed suicide in 2017, 20 in 2018 and 8 in 2019. Since 2020 and 2021 were the years of Corona, the classes were conducted online, so the rate of suicide decreased. In 2020 4 students committed suicide while in 2021 no one committed suicide.

Although at that time the students committed suicide out of frustration, even if cases were registered in their own cities and villages, it cannot be said that suicides have actually decreased. After the start of classes in 2022, 15 students committed suicide and now the number has reached 25.

The police admit that the actual number of students studying in Kota who committed suicide would be high as the Kota police only has the data of suicide cases in Kota. While studying in Kota, there is no data of those who committed suicide in their hometown or elsewhere.