Police in Kota, Rajasthan, have confirmed that the death of a NEET aspirant from Uttarakhand was a suicide. The student, who had been preparing for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, was found to be depressed and stressed about his upcoming exams. The Kota administration has issued guidelines to coaching institutes to prioritise students' mental health.
Rajasthan minister Shanti Dhariwal has said love affair was a reason behind many suicide cases among students, including a 16-year-old girl who died at her hostel recently, provoking her father to ask him for evidence.
Wardens and staff members of hostels in Kota will be given professional training in mess management, psychological and behavioural counselling, and other aspects of students' care to equip them to battle the rising number of suicides by aspirants in the coaching hub.
The Supreme Court of India has reprimanded the Rajasthan government over the alarming rise in student suicides in Kota. The court expressed its deep concern over the situation, questioning the state's efforts to address the crisis. The court also ordered an FIR to be filed in the case of a 22-year-old IIT Kharagpur student who died by suicide in his hostel room, citing a delay in reporting the incident to the police.
Two separate incidents of alleged suicide have been reported in Rajasthan, involving a nursing student and a B.Sc student. Police investigations are underway to determine the reasons behind these tragic events.
A 20-year-old NEET aspirant from Delhi was found dead in his room in Kota. Police are investigating the circumstances, with family suspecting foul play and another student missing.
The Kota district administration in Rajasthan has reported a 50% decline in student suicides this year compared to 2023, attributing the decrease to stricter guidelines for coaching institutes and hostels, mental health initiatives, and outreach programs. Despite the positive development, coaching businesses in Kota have experienced a slowdown due to negative publicity and stricter regulations. The district administration has launched a program called 'Kota Cares' to reaffirm its commitment to student well-being and safety.
25 student suicides in 2023 at India's coaching hub Kota have revealed the mindboggling stress children confront every day, reports Prakash Bhandari.
A 16-year-old medical aspirant from Bihar was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his hostel room in Kota, just 20 days after joining a coaching centre to prepare for NEET. This is the 13th suspected suicide by a coaching student in Kota since January, highlighting the immense pressure students face in the competitive environment.
The Kota district administration has released new guidelines for coaching centers and hostels under the 'Kota Cares' Campaign to reduce the cost of living for students preparing for competitive exams. The new guidelines include the elimination of security and caution money, a maintenance fee of Rs 2,000, anti-suicide ceiling fans, and mandatory gatekeeper training for hostel staff. The campaign aims to attract more students to Kota after a sharp decline in enrollment due to the pandemic.
A 16-year-old JEE aspirant allegedly hanged himself in his hostel room in Kota, hours after the National Testing Agency published the answer key for the first edition of JEE-Main 2024, the police said on Tuesday.
The Supreme Court of India has directed its registry to call for a report from IIT Kharagpur and Kota, Rajasthan, after the suicides of a student and a NEET aspirant came to light. The court is seeking to ascertain whether FIRs were registered in both cases, highlighting the disturbing pattern of student suicides in educational institutions. The court has also previously ordered the formation of a national task force to address mental health concerns and prevent suicides in higher educational institutions.
In just the two months of 2025, six cases of student suicides took place in Kota.
Bhadur Singh (17), a resident of Rampur district in Uttar Pradesh, was found dead in his room in Mahaveer Nagar-II on Friday night and his body was recovered from the room on Saturday morning, they said.
Hostel owners said such steps to make their premises "suicide proof" are crucial to avoid tragic incidents.
Uttar Pradesh native Mohammad Urooj was found hanging from a ceiling fan by a police team on Tuesday, station house office (Vigyan Nagar) Satish Chaudhary said.
The body a 16-year-old JEE aspirant, who left his hostel for a routine test on February 11 and went missing, was found on Monday night stuck between two trees on a rock in a forest area in Rajasthan's Kota, the police said.
What is pushing students to take this extreme step?
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.
A 20-year-old NEET aspirant from West Bengal was found hanging in his rented accommodation in Kota but no suicide note has been recovered from his room, the police said on Tuesday.
Worried by a spate of suicides by hanging, the authorities in the coaching hub of Kota have taken a desperate measure -- ordering hostels to install a spring device on ceiling fans to stop students from taking their lives.
From mothers on sabbatical to grandparents and homemakers, many people are choosing to shift to the coaching hub Kota with their children to ensure they are not stressed while preparing for entrance exams and do not take any extreme step.
The bench said, given the pressing nature of the crisis, particularly in cities like Kota, Jaipur, Sikar, Vishakhapatnam, Hyderabad, and Delhi, where students migrate in large numbers, immediate interim safeguards are the call of the day.
In a fourth case of suspected suicide by a NEET aspirant this month, a 16-year-old student was found hanging in his hostel room in the Kunhari area of Kota, the police said on Thursday.
The teenager, preparing for National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test, allegedly hanged himself sometime in the intervening nights of Monday and Tuesday, they said.
The nine-page guidelines have been issued days after the state government set up a 15-member committee headed by education secretary Bhawani Singh Detha to examine the issue after record student suicides were reported from coaching hub Kota.
Rocked by a spate of student suicides, the city police has set up a dedicated "Student Cell" to reach out to students and make attempts to detect early signs of stress and depression.
This is the thirteenth case of suspected suicide by a coaching student in Kota since January.
The new season takes the students out of their preoccupation with studies to other problems -- jealousy of another's easy success, a blip in a romance, financial crunch, meltdowns, discovers Deepa Gahlot.
According to Kota police and district administration records, at least 14 students studying in coaching centres in the city committed suicide this year.
Less than six months after she moved to Kota to prepare for medical entrance exam NEET, a 16-year-old girl from Jharkhand's Ranchi allegedly hanged herself to death in her hostel room, the police said.
Despite 26 cases of suicide by coaching students in 2023, the highest in a year, Kota still faces a shortage of clinical psychologists.
The NHRC, in a statement on Wednesday, said it has taken suo motu cognizance of a media report that the students of a coaching centre allegedly committed suicide in two separate incidents within 12 hours.
An 18-year-old student preparing for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) allegedly hanged herself at her home in Kota on Monday, leaving behind a suicide note saying sorry to her parents and calling herself a 'loser'.
The suicides have involved more NEET aspirants than JEE. 'It's a make-or-mar situation.' 'Either you get into a government medical college, where the fee is much lower than in private institutes, or you don't make it.'
The police team also found a suicide note addressing his father where the boy had expressed his incapability to crack the JEE, he said.
The 2023-2024 figures showed that the size of the industry, excluding those having an annual turnover of Rs 20 crore, could be Rs 30,652 crore, assuming no tax evasion.
This is the eighth case of suspected suicide by a coaching student in Kota so far this year, according to the police.
According to the report, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Madhya Pradesh are identified as the states with the highest number of student suicides, together accounting for one-third of the national total.
Rajasthan native Bharat Kumar Rajput was found hanging from the ceiling fan on Tuesday morning, the police said.
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