Last year, the city of Kota in the state of Rajasthan was in the news constantly after several students committed suicide in the city due to unbearable pressure. Around 17 students preparing for the competitive exams in the city ended their lives in 2024 as compared to 26 in the year 2023.
The administration, taking cognizance of it, undertook several measures like installing anti-suicide devices in the hostel rooms, removing ceiling fans, and issuing preventive directives to the hostel owners and students facing pressure, etc. As a result of this, it has come to the fore that the city is now seeing a 50% decline in suicides.
As stated by Kota Magistrate Dr Ravindra Goswami Ravindra Goswami, the suicide rates have decreased by 50% in the year 2024 as compared to the year 2023. “In comparison to last year, the suicide rate among coaching students has decreased by 50% this year, which is a significant figure in terms of the efforts yielding results. We expect this trend to continue in the future,” he said expressing satisfaction over the administrative efforts to result in a reduction of suicide cases.
While talking to the media, Goswami lauded administrative initiatives such as gate-keeper training for hostel wardens, the launch of SOS Help services, and regular interactive sessions with students through events like ‘Dinner with Collector’ and ‘Samwad’. “These events have helped foster a safer environment among the students. I personally have interacted with over 25,000 students this year to address their concerns,” he said.
‘Kota Cares’ launched for students
Meanwhile, the pressure on the students preparing for competitive exams in Kota continues to rise. A number of students still succumb to the said pressure. Taking note of this, the district administration has launched a new program named ‘Kota Cares’ that works to ensure the safety and well-being of the students staying at the hostels. As per the reports, this initiative was recently launched at Kota Mohotsav and is the brainchild of Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla.
The program aims at making Kota a model city for holistic student well-being and their overall development. It seeks to create an inclusive, safe, and supportive environment for the students who come to Kota from different parts of the country annually. Every year, over 2 lakh students arrive in the city to pursue their academic dreams. The initiative includes bringing together a coalition of local police, government departments, coaching institutes, educators, hostel owners, and residents to make a healthier environment for students to study. It also includes inviting the alumni and furthering their interaction with the students.
The program was launched last week by the Kota District Administration in collaboration with the Kota Students Welfare Society (KSWS) during the Kota Mahotsav. Notably, District Magistrate Dr Ravindra Goswami was also present at the event.
On 31st December, Om Birla asked the parents to send their students to Kota assuring better education and cultural upbringing. Extending wishes on the occasion of New Year, he addressed the parents and said that students who come to Kota from all over the country for education would be treated as the sons and daughters of the district. “Some misunderstandings might have spoiled the environment but Kota provides a safe environment for the students,” he said.
40% drop in student enrollment in Kota
The number of suicides has been increasing despite all such administrative measures forcing a drop in enrollments in the city. A report recently revealed that the city which has been famous for its extensive coaching facilities is now experiencing a drop in student enrollment. Every year, the number of enrollments crossed the mark of 2 lakhs which has drastically come down to 1.2 lakhs- a 40% drop.
As a result of this, the city is also facing an economic crisis as many of the hostels and private properties have started displaying ‘To Let’ and ‘To Sale’ boards. A ground report by the BBC mentioned that the hostel owners and the managing authorities have reduced the rent amounts offering the hostels at lower prices to the new students.
“Earlier we used to charge Rs 16000 per month for rental rooms. Then after the news of suicides began spreading, parents began calling their children and stopped sending them here. We then reduced the rates to Rs 5000, and Rs 3000, and now we have come to a point where we offer rooms to students at Rs 2500,” said Sandeep Kohli, one of the hostel owners.
Kota Hostel Association President Naveen Mittal added that Kota was earlier a coaching industry however, “this is the first time in the last two decades that the number of students coming to Kota has decreased by 25 to 30%.”
Hostel accommodations for students attending coaching classes are abundant across Kota, particularly in areas like Vigyan Nagar in South Kota, Mahavir Nagar, Indira Colony, Rajiv Nagar, Talwandi, and Coral City in North Kota. These neighborhoods have long been hubs for students. However, signs reading ‘To Let’ are now frequently seen outside hostels and houses in these areas. Many buildings that appear well-maintained on the outside have vacant locked rooms that were once rented by the students. While some face this issue others have been shut down due to declining rental income.
Naveen Mittal remarks, “With about a 30 percent drop in the number of students, our industry has shrunk from Rs 6,000 crore to Rs 3,000 crore.”
Hostels and other businesses in Kota suffering due to this drop
Deepak Kohli, a long-time resident of Kota who has been involved in the hostel industry for 25 years operates a 50-room hostel in Rajiv Nagar, a 20-room PG in Vigyan Nagar, and another 50-room hostel in Coral City.
“A year ago, we charged Rs 15,000 per room in Rajiv Nagar. Today, the rent has dropped to Rs 8,000. Similarly, in Vigyan Nagar, the rent for a PG room, which was Rs 5,000, is now just Rs 3,000. All our hostels are more than half empty,” Kohli says. Mukul Sharma, who runs a 75-room hostel in Coral City, is also concerned. Having been in the industry since 2009, Sharma explains, “Our location was ideal, and we anticipated full occupancy. However, more than half of the rooms are vacant. The hostel costs Rs 4 crore to build, and we expected to save Rs 4 lakh per month. But now, we’re struggling to save even a fraction of that.”
“With fewer students coming in, rents have decreased significantly. We used to charge Rs 15,000 per student for a room with facilities, but now we can only charge Rs 8,000. Meanwhile, the cost of living continues to rise, and repaying loan installments has become increasingly difficult,” he adds.
Not only the hostel owners but also cycle owners, hotels, and food stations are suffering due to the decreased enrollment of the students. There are several reasons for this. In the past year, more than 17 students committed suicide in the city causing concern among the community. Before that, in the year 2023, more than 20 students had ended their lives.
Student’s deteriorating mental health
One of the students, while talking to BBC, stated that after learning about the suicides, other students and their parents start feeling concerned about the mental health of their children and the environment in the district.
“In 2024, many of us students returned home. The frequent reports of suicides left us deeply concerned. Moreover, students are segregated after tests, and those in the lower batches often receive less attention which further builds pressure,” shared one Aditya from Bihar. Saket, a fellow student from Begusarai, said, “It’s heartbreaking to see when someone you share meals with daily ends life. In such an environment, it becomes difficult to focus on studies.”
In September 2024, a student who was preparing for the medical entrance exam was found hanging inside his rented apartment in Rajasthan’s Kota. According to officials, the deceased had been identified as Parshuram, a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura. He had come to Kota a week before his death to prepare for the medical entrance exam. However, the student was found hanging from the ceiling of his rented accommodation.
In February 2024, Kota authorities reported that a student pursuing the final year of an online BTech course in Chennai was found deceased in an apparent suicide in a rented room located in the town’s Vigyan Nagar area. The police mentioned that no suicide note was discovered at the scene.
Another student in February 2024 studying for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) committed suicide in the educational hub of Kota, Rajasthan. An 18-year-old girl was discovered hanging at her home. Although her family acted quickly and admitted the girl to the hospital, healthcare professionals declared her dead.
A 21-year-old girl committed suicide by hanging in Rajasthan’s Kota. Nisha Singh, a NEET aspirant from Uttar Pradesh’s Auraiya was found dead at her hostel room in Mahavir Nagar 1 in Kota. A NEET student from Uttar Pradesh’s Maharajganj district committed suicide by hanging himself in his room.
The episodes of suicide did not end sending shock across the state and the country. Later the district administration had issued an order requiring all hostels and paying guest (PG) accommodations to install spring-loaded ceiling fans in every room. Several other measures were also taken by the authorities to prevent such incidents. However, the enrollments continued to drop disturbing even the economic condition of the region.
National Education Policy’s complete implementation needed
Several proposals have been pushed to curb the rising suicide rates of students, some of which seemed absurd. The Indian Institute of Science had proposed to install wall-mounted fans in hostel rooms last year and remove the ceiling fans. Others meanwhile had only partially addressed the issue, such as the recommendations made by the Board of Intermediate Education in Andhra Pradesh in 2017 to reduce student stress, which included offering yoga and physical education programs and keeping a healthy student-teacher ratio.
It is tragically obvious that the bigger problem, that of the punitive educational system which is just not meant to support young intellects or equip them for today’s economic realities is still not being addressed. It seems that it will take time for the New Education Policy 2020’s vision which offers more academic flexibility to lessen the strain on students to be completely implemented.
Decline of Kota
Kota emerged as a hub for education in the 1990s. Students from various parts of the country started coming to the place for quality coaching for competitive exams. However, in the last decade, the students allegedly started feeling and expressing pressures to raise concerns.
Several students committing suicide, facing depression, and also engaging in inferior activities. A well-known series named ‘Kota Factory’ on OTT platforms very well describes the pressure faced by the students. It shows how the confidence level of the students is shattered following the educational and also peer pressure. And this somehow stays with the students for their entire life.
Several coaching institutes in Kota have now started online training and believe that the education of the students is important, be it physically from Kota or online. “They must feel safe and secure the deteriorating economy of the district also does not matter,” said one of the coaching professors while talking to BBC.
The excessive glorification and indoctrination surrounding the importance of IITs often overshadows their lives. This binary portrayal of success or failure, based solely on whether one gets selected for IITs, places undue emphasis on this single goal. It creates a central focus in a child’s life, where failure feels like staring into a boundless abyss with no foreseeable end.
At present to confront this growing issue, all- students, parents, teachers, institutes, and policymakers must work in coordination and learn from their past failures. It is also important for the stakeholders to establish a smooth and open communication system which might help and encourage the students to cope with the pressure. For this, the option of establishing and promoting student counseling centers or career counseling centers at the institutes can also be considered, in addition to the ‘Kota Cares’ initiative recently launched by the administration.
Students also at their level need to understand the importance of mental peace and balance it with their student lifestyle. During physical training at Kota, they need to give balanced or subjectively proportionate importance to education and their careers and need to adopt the culture of demanding guilt-free breaks whenever needed. The coaching institutes as a part of preventing such mishaps have begun online partial training today, but during direct coaching at centers, they must stop building pressure environments to ensure the mental stability of the students.
