Kota: 2 more students commit suicide after Sunday tests, 24 students dead in 8 months of 2023

The Kota district administration on Monday, August 28 issued a strict advisory barring all the coaching centers in Kota, Rajasthan from conducting tests for the next two months. This is after the city recorded two more suicide cases on Sunday, August 27.

On Sunday, 27th August, two students preparing for NEET, one from the Latur district of Maharashtra and another one from Bihar committed suicide. The two have been identified as Avishkar Sambhaji Kasle (16) and Adarsh Raj (18). According to the reports, Avishkar had arrived at one of the institutes to write his test and ended his life by jumping off the sixth floor of the building while Adarsh was found dead in his hostel room after he hanged himself due to mental pressure.

VIDEO | “A boy, who was preparing for NEET and also studying in Class 12, had his exam today. After giving the exam, he went to the sixth floor and jumped from there,” says Kota Deputy Superintendent of Police KS Rathore after two NEET aspirants allegedly committed suicide in two… pic.twitter.com/1WO2pA5eAq

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 28, 2023

Both the deaths are said to have happened on Sunday, August 27 after which the Kota administration issued immediate advisory banning the coaching institutes from conducting tests for the next two months.

Kota Collector OP Bunkar noted the rising number of suicide cases in the district and stated that the students committed suicide as they did not score good marks in the test conducted on Sunday. He pressed on the need for the students to be stress-free and said that no tests would be organized by the coaching centers for the next two months.

The administration had issued the guidelines on August 12 as well in which it had warned the coaching institutes in Kota to stop conducting tests on Sundays. However, the coaching institutes continued to conduct tests on Sundays.

SSP Bhagwat Singh Hingad confirmed that the two deaths reported from Kota on Sunday, August 27 happened due to the tests conducted on Sundays. “Avishkar had gone to the institute to give the test and Adarsh was found dead in his hostel room. Both apparently scored less in the test conducted on Sunday and could not handle the pressure,” he said.

Notably, on August 18 this year, the Kota district administration issued another order requiring all hostels and paying guest (PG) accommodations to install spring-loaded fans in every room “to provide students mental support and security”.

“To provide mental support and security to the students studying/living in them and to prevent suicides from increasing among coaching students in Kota city, all hostel/PG operators in the state are directed to install a security spring device in the fans at every room, as discussed in Saturday’s meeting,” the official statement issued by Kota district collector Om Prakash Bunkar read.

The district administration also urged owners of coaching centers, hostels, and PGs to follow a December 2022 order mandating a weekly day off for students, a class size cap of 80 students, as well as required psychological testing for both students and teachers.

After the two recent deaths, the total of suicide cases reported from the city in the last 8 months has risen to 24. Every year, thousands of students from all over the nation come to this educational hub in Rajasthan to study for competitive tests to enter the best engineering and medical schools in the nation.

Over the past few years, there have been a number of student suicides at Kota, with many placing the blame on the stress of studying and students’ dread of failing. Last year, Kota had a total of 15 student suicides. But this year, the death toll has already reached 24.

Over 3 lakh students from across India are currently staying in Kota to prepare for various medical and engineering entrance exams.