Coaching centres in Kota asked to halt conducting routine tests of NEET, JEE aspirants as suicide cases rise

A poster describing the ‘wrong track’ and ‘right track’ for coaching students pasted across Kota.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Authorities in Rajasthan’s Kota district have asked coaching institutes to stop conducting routine tests of students preparing for NEET and other competitive exams for the next two months in the wake of suicides by a number of aspirants.

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

According to authorities, 22 students preparing for competitive exams in the district have ended their lives so far in 2023— the highest for any year. Last year, the figure was 15.

Two students ended their lives on August 27, in a span of four hours.

Avishkar Shambaji Kasle (17) allegedly died by suicide in Jawahar Nagar at around 3:15 p.m., minutes after walking out of a room after taking a mock NEET test, police said.

Adarsh Raj (18), who was also preparing for the competitive exam, allegedly died by suicide in the Kunhadi police station area at around 7 p.m., they said.

The reason behind the two latest suicides is that the aspirants were apparently under pressure for scoring low marks during routine tests conducted by the coaching centres.

Kota district collector O.P. Bunkar, in an order issued on August 27 night, asked the coaching institutes to stop holding routine tests for the next two months.

He said the directions were passed to provide “mental support” to students.

Senior government official holds meeting with collector, coaching institutes

A day after two NEET aspirants died, a senior official of the Rajasthan government held a meeting with the Kota collector and other officials through video conference.

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

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

Mr. 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 also visit Kota soon.

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