The students are aged 16, 17 and 18.
Jaipur:
Three students preparing for competitive university entrance exams in Rajasthan’s Kota are believed to have committed suicide today. The bodies have been kept in a morgue and the police have started an investigation to know the truth. The students are aged 16, 17 and 18.
Two of the students who committed suicide, Ankush and Ujjwal, were from Bihar. They are friends and stay in the same dorm in adjoining rooms. One is preparing to take the entrance exam to a technical university, while the other is studying to pass the desirable medical college entrance exams. No suicide note has been found.
The third student, Pranav, came to Kota from Madhya Pradesh, and was preparing for the National Eligibility Test cum Entrance Examination (University) or NEET — the pre-medical entrance exam.
Known for its private training centers that offer preparation classes for competitive medical and technical exams, Kota has been involved in suicides in the past.
Students, including many preparing for highly competitive exams alongside their final two years of study, often complain about precise schedules that lead to high stress. In response to widespread media scrutiny of past suicides and self-harm by Kota teenagers, the government has set up a suicide hotline for students concerned. You can call for advice.
The coaching center is known for pushing students to the limit with long study periods, long assignments, and very competitive internal tests to determine if a student is promoted or demoted in a series of “batches” . Top batches that are most sought after by teachers.
A student in 2016 called for all training centers to be closed, before committing suicide despite passing the coveted IIT-JEE main exam.
In 2019, the government of Rajasthan established a state-level committee to prepare a draft law regulating training centers to reduce stress for learners at such institutes. There is currently no public information on the draft.
