Age bar, refunds: Rajasthan panel's likely steps to stem Kota suicides

The 15-member panel was set up by the Rajasthan government on August 17 against the backdrop of mounting outrage over student suicides in Kota.

A top Rajasthan government committee is set to recommend barring students younger than class 8 from taking admission in coaching institutes in Kota, allowing pupils to claim refund from institutions if they drop out, and implementing training modules for teachers and hostel owners, as part of a slew of recommendations aimed at fighting the spate of suicides that has rocked India’s test-preparation hub this year, HT has learnt.

Career Point coaching institute for iit jee, aieee, aipmt, state pmt, rpmt and mppmt entrance preparation, Kota Coaching,(File)

Read here: Kota suicides: Reduce study hrs, introduce fun activities, recommends committee

The 15-member panel — headed by state higher education secretary Bhawani Detha — was set up by the Rajasthan government on August 17 against the backdrop of mounting outrage over student suicides in Kota that has touched 24 this year, the highest since data started being compiled in 2015. The committee — which also comprised collectors of a few nearby districts and Kota’s assistant police superintendent — met stakeholders such as coaching institute owners, hostel authorities, psychiatrists and police officials.

It is set to submit its report — which will form the basis of a new policy that will be tabled in the next session of the Rajasthan assembly — to the government on Monday.

Looking to immediately identify students suffering from severe depression or those showing “suicidal tendencies”, the committee might also recommend the introduction of a “20-hour-long gatekeeper training for the coaching authorities, owners of the hostels and paying guest accommodations that will enable them to better analyse the students’ behaviour”, said an official aware of the plan.

Every year, tens of thousands of young people from India’s hinterland pour into the Rajasthan town whose famed institutes preparing students for medical and engineering entrance examinations constitute a ₹10,000 crore industry. These residential institutes represent a real shot at material prosperity and economic mobility for poor families but this also translates into inhuman pressure and stress on teenagers struggling to stay afloat in an intensely competitive environment away from home.

This year alone, 24 students have died by suicide, sparking outrage at the inability of the authorities to deal with the problem, and another 45 contemplated taking their lives, according to the Kota police’s student cell helplines. An HT analysis showed that an overwhelming majority of these suicides were by minors, and male. In at least 15 cases, the students came from backgrounds that were either poor or lower middle class. For instance, one was the son of a barber, another the daughter of a vehicle washer, and two were the children of small farmers.

In the face of growing criticism, institutes have tried piecemeal solutions such as installing spring-loaded fans, putting up nets outside windows and between floors, and suspending exams temporarily, but no long-term remedies have been mooted. In 2022, the Rajasthan government drafted a bill that prohibited private institutes from glorifying the success of toppers, prescribed an aptitude test for admission and made registration mandatory, but it was never tabled.

An official familiar with the development said that the “new recommendations will probably be enforced as a policy instead of a usual guidelines that will enable the authority to take necessary actions against the stakeholders in case of violation of the norms.”

In the report, the committee is also likely to suggest that a permanent students’ cell be set up, headed by an administrative officer with a “full team” so students can “reach out to them with any kind of issues”, said an official familiar with the matter.

With a high percentage of students looking to pass JEE and NEET, the committee is also expected to push for “cross learning sessions” that can motivate students by providing them career guidance beyond these two avenues, said an official cited above. In these sessions, students will be able to interact with “a few people who became successful in life even after failing to crack these competitions”, added the official.

The committee’s recommendations might also stress on spreading awareness about ‘Tele-MANAS’ — a comprehensive mental health care service under the Union government’s National Health Mission. “Students, dialling its toll-free helpline numbers (14416 or 1-8008914416) will be able to get in touch with recognised professional psychiatrists or counsellors if they require any help,” an official said.

Suicide is a longstanding problem in Kota and the mental stress on students has been studied in detail by several experts, including from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

15 students died by suicide in Kota in 2022, 18 in 2019, 20 in 2018, seven in 2017, 17 in 2016, and 18 in 2015. No suicides took place in the pandemic-ravaged years of 2020 and 2021.

Commenting on the committee’s recommendations, a director of a prominent coaching centre welcomed the limits on the admission age of students. “In the meetings, I also suggested making it mandatory for two days off in the week, and a reduction in the syllabus considering the stress generated from daily study for days on end,” the director said, requesting anonymity

Naveen Mittal, the president of the hostel owners association in Kota, said the body recommended of a committee that includes hostels and coaching centre owners to build a regular line of communication between them.

“We have also asked that a list of counsellors of all coaching centres be made available and public so we can get in touch with them at any point to enquire about the condition of a student. We also suggested forming a committee with paying guest owners to create a monitoring system for them because they are often unauthorised and often violate guidelines,” he said.

Read here: 16-year-old NEET student dies by suicide in Rajasthan’s Kota, 24th case this year

The director of an institution mentioned above that the refund norms were already prescribed in the district collectors’ guidelines and followed by the centres.

Jaipur-based sociologist Rajiv Gupta said, “It is the need of the hour to constitute a transparent policy that discourages the notion of coaching centres and encourages an environment where the students can prepare themselves for such competitive examinations independently without any active help of these coaching institutes.”