In the fifth student-suicide this month, a 16-year-old student died by suicide in Rajasthan's Kota on Sunday, according to a report.
Kota is the hub of coaching centres in India where students from across the country come to prepare for engineering and medical entrance exams.
The number of student-suicides so far this year have surpassed the number from the whole of 2022. The Government of Rajasthan has taken cognizance of the situation and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has formed to committee to looked into the issue.
The 16-year-old died by suicide at his coaching centre in Vigyan Nagar area of Kota, reported Hindustan Times, citing police.
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The report further said that no suicide note was recovered. The teen came to Kota in 2021 and was staying with grandparents at a rented house.
"According to police records, Sunday’s suicide is the fifth such incident in the district among students preparing for competitive exams...Sixteen of the cases were reported in the past four months alone," reported HT.
The death of the 16-year-old has taken the toll so far this year to 22. The number of suicides in the entirety of 2022 was 15.
Circle Officer Dharmaveer Singh said, "No suicide note was found and a preliminary report did not suggest any behavioural changes. The body has been sent to the district medical college hospital for an autopsy and a forensic science laboratory (FSL) team was sent to the spot for further investigations."
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Earlier this month, an 18-year-old preparing for engineering entrances died by suicide on August 15, another 17-year-old aspiring engineer died by suicide on August 11, another engineering aspirant aged 17 died on August 4, and a student preparing for medical entrances died by suicide on August 3, according to Hindustan Times.
Earlier this month, CM Ashok Gehlot set up a committee to look into the issue of rising student-suicides in Kota. He also flagged the issue of pressure on students.
Highlighting the burden put on students studying in class 9 and 10, Gehlot said that enrolling class 9 and 10 students in coaching institutes puts extra burden on them since they also have to appear for board exams.
"You call students of class 9th and 10th. You are committing a crime in a way. It is like as if IIT is god. As soon as students come to coaching, they are enrolled in fake schools. It is also a fault of the parents...Students are enrolled in dummy schools and they do not go to schools. They have dual burden of clearing board exams and to prepare for entrance exam," said Gehlot at the time, as per PTI.
In the wake of increasing suicides, instiutions have resorted to fans with springs so as students could not die by hanging from ceiling fans and have installed nets around their buildings to catch students jumping from heights. Such measures have attracted criticism as people have flagged that such measures only address very limited mediums of suicide and do not do anything to address the root causes of suicides such as parental and societal pressure, ragging, etc.
