Another Student Dies By Suicide In Kota, Taking The Number Of Deaths In 2022 To 15
Just days after three students died of suicide within 12 hours, Rajasthan's Kota,?known as the hub of competitive exam coaching, was rocked by yet another death.
A 16-year-old coaching student ended his life by hanging himself from a ceiling fan in his hostel room in the Indira Vihar area under the Jawahar Nagar police station on Friday.
Showed no signs of stress: friend
The deceased student has been identified as Aniket Kumar, a resident of Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh (UP).
Kumar had passed class 12th and was preparing to crack the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Under Graduate (NEET-UG) for the last three years, police said.
Ajay Yadav, who was friends with Kumar, said they used to talk to each other for about an hour daily.
"We spoke on phone at 12 am last night. His mother was also on the conference call and everything was normal," he added, refuting any signs of discomfort or trouble that might have compelled Kumar to take the extreme step.
"Aniket used to take coaching classes regularly, however, he did not attend the class on Friday. He was not even answering the calls ," Yadav said.
15th student death this year?
Friday's death is the 15th student suicide reported in Kota this year.
Kota students cry for help
Following the three deaths reported on December 12, there have been growing calls to regulate the high-stress coaching class.
For a student preparing for competitive exams in Kota, the academic schedule would typically include classes for seven or eight hours from Monday to Saturday with a brief interval for refreshment, sometimes doubt sessions and remedial classes on Sundays, at least three internal tests during a week and one major test on the last Sunday of a month.
Often bogged down with the fast-paced curriculum and the programme structure, students say they are always racing against time and even a day's break can push them behind thousands of other students.
Academic stress killing students
"Majority of students coming here begin to live away from their families for the first time. Having just one day off on Sunday is not enough to even adjust to that setting. At times, the day does not even give us the window to grasp what all was taught throughout the week," said Varsha B, a NEET aspirant from Maharashtra.
Nishant Yadav from Haryana's Jhajjar district feels there should be at least two offs in a week to help them relax and keep pace with the curriculum.
"Life in Kota is like running on a treadmill. You can either get off or keep running but cannot slow down. There should be at least be two offs. Even adults need Saturday and Sunday offs, we are still teenagers who are seeing the outside world for the first time and then the constant pressure that each of the six days of classes and the internal tests through the week, one has to be on top of his or her game," he told PTI.
After the cases of three students dying by suicide last week came to light, the district administration issued fresh directions to ensure that there is a stress-free environment for students and that at least one weekly off is granted to them.
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