'Half-day study, half-day fun', identifying students with suicidal tendencies among measures to curb rising Kota suicide cases

'Half-day study, half-day fun' on one weekday, identification of students with suicidal tendencies and psychological counselling are among the decisions taken on Monday in a meeting on the rising suicide cases in Kota.

Representatives of coaching institutes and hostel associations also attended the meeting chaired by Bhawani Singh Detha, principal secretary (higher and technical education), through video conference, officials said.

Detha is also the chairman of a committee formed on the direction of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot to look into the issue. The committee will visit Kota on September 2 to take stock of the situation.

Among the other decisions taken in the meeting, coaching institutes have been asked to form a committee of subject experts in an attempt to reduce the burden of courses on students.

The institutes have also been asked to hold online motivational sessions by experts and upload the same on social media for benefit of all students.

It was decided in the meeting that the coaching institutes will hold 'half-day study, half-day fun' on every Wednesday, the officials said, adding that the coaching institutes were also asked to stop conducting routine tests of students preparing for NEET and other competitive exams for the next two months.

A form will be developed for coaching students to fill in everyday so that their mental status can be assessed.

Besides, absentees from the routine tests and poor performers will be identified and they will be provided psychological counselling, the officials said.

The meeting was held a day after two NEET aspirants committed suicide on Sunday.

The other officials who attended the meeting included Kota Collector O P Bunkar, SP Sharad Chaudhary, Additional Collector (Administration) Rajkumar Singh, and Additional SP Bhagwat Singh Hingad.

"It is an alarming situation as so many students are committing suicides," Kota district collector Bunkar told reporters here after the meeting on Monday afternoon.

The preliminary meeting was held to discuss on short and long-term measures to check the rising suicide cases, he added.

The decision on immediate and long terms measures taken in the meeting to check suicide cases would help release stress of the students and create favourable environment, Bunkar added.

Kota City SP Choudhary proposed to set up an exclusive police station for students.

"As an expansion of students' police helpdesk already functional, I gave the idea of setting up a police station for students in Kota to address their concerns," Chaudhary told reporters.

The draft proposal for exclusive students' police station would be sent to the state government for sanction in the next few days, the SP (City) said.

On August 18, CM Gehlot held a meeting of all the stakeholders and directed to form the committee headed by Detha which will submit its report within 15 days.

Two students, preparing for competitive exams in Kota, allegedly committed suicide on Sunday, in a span of four hours. According to authorities, 22 students have ended their lives so far in 2023 -- the highest for any year. Last year, the figure was 15.

More than two lakh students move to Kota, a coaching hub, annually to prepare for competitive exams such as the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) for admission to engineering institutes and the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for medical colleges.