Kota Eases Up Stress of Students; Suicides Drop by 70%

Kota – the coaching hub for JEE and NEET aspirants – has been distressed over student suicides and rising stress levels amongst students. Following, various suicide incidents, the administration of Kota took matters into hand and started initiatives to placate students and reduce stress casualties that take place due to exam pressure.

Kota has witnessed a 70% drop in the number of suicides in the first 10 months of 2017. Tata Institute of Social Sciences was hired by the Government of Rajasthan to study reasons of stress amongst students in Kota. The city administration says that this has been achieved with the help of various measures announced in 2016.

Measures taken by Kota Administration to Control Student Suicides:

• Weekly offs and recreation days were made compulsory across all coaching institutes.
• More counsellors were hired to guide and monitor students enrolled at different coaching institutes.
• Batch shuffling was also reduced as it develops performance pressure amongst students regarding test scores.
• Students are given a day off before major tests in order to help them calm their nerves.
• Parents are also being provided with counselling and are asked to reduce pressure on their children.
• A helpline was started by an NGO to assist students who seem to develop suicidal tendencies or those who are not able to cope up with pressure and studies. The helpline has received over 1460 calls.

Number of Suicides in Kota:

Despite all these measures, there are some students who are not happy with the arrangements. A student said that recreational facilities are not adequate to ease stress levels and added that meditation and yoga were optional. It has also been reported that the number of parents who live with their children in Kota.

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Kota receives close to 1,50,000 students who are seeking admission in coaching institutes every year. Many of these students come from poor family backgrounds and they face tremendous performance pressure. Although various measures are being taken to control student suicides, coaching institutes and stakeholders need to put in a lot of effort in order to control suicide rates.