Has Kota Become Death Trap For Our Children; UP Student Ends Life; 17th Suicide This Year

An 18-year-old student committed suicide on Thursday in Kota, which is called the education city of Rajasthan. This student had come to Kota from Uttar Pradesh for coaching in the month of April. 

This is the 17th suicide by a student in Kota this year so far. Last year in 2022, 15 students in Kota had committed suicide. In December last year, the incident of suicide of three students together had shocked everyone.

The deceased was doing NEET coaching while staying in a hostel in Vigyan Nagar police station area of Kota.

Giving information about the incident, Police Station Incharge Devesh Bhardwaj said, "A student named Manjot Chhabra had slept in his room after having dinner. He did not pick up the phone of his family members in the morning. Subsequently, the caretaker was informed. When the door was broken, the boy's body was found.

He told that, "The student was a resident of Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, who had come to Kota in the month of April. The relatives have been informed about the incident, the postmortem will be conducted only after their arrival."

Till now in the year 2023, more coaching students have committed suicide than last year.

Kota City SP Sharad Chowdhary has confirmed the suicide of 17 students in Kota this year so far.

 

Suicides have left the city in shock

Manjot is the 17th child to take the extreme step this year. What’s common between them is that they were all enrolled at one of the 130-odd coaching institutes in the largest, most successful coaching hub in the country. Though these students form a small percentage of the 1.5 lakh students who come to Kota each year, they cannot be brushed aside as mere statistics.

Kota is known for its coaching centers that prepare students for the Indian Institutes of Technology and medical school exams. But it has also been labeled a "suicide factory" by local residents and the parents of students. This label is a result of the regular suicides by students in the city in the past years. These suicides have left the city in shock and prompted outrage over the poor living conditions and intense academic pressure faced by the students.

Kota, a coaching hub, has been in the media glare over several student deaths that have drawn attention to the extreme pressure and distress suffered by young men and women preparing for medical and engineering entrance exams.