Pressure mounts on Kota’s coaching institutes as student suicides highlight the cracks in India’s competitive education system | Representational Image
The city of Kota in Rajasthan, once celebrated as a beacon for ambitious students aiming to crack India’s most competitive exams, is now a grim symbol of an educational system gone awry. The recent deaths by suicide of two students—bringing January’s tally to six—lay bare the systemic failures that have rendered Kota a pressure cooker of despair. Despite interventions by the district administration, coaching institutes, and hostel owners, the human cost of this relentless pursuit of academic success remains unacceptably high. Kota’s coaching institutes, famed for their promises of IIT and medical college admissions, attract tens of thousands of students annually.
These young aspirants, many still grappling with adolescence, are thrust into an environment that prioritises results over well-being. Hostel rooms are outfitted with “anti-suicide” measures, collapsable ceiling fans and barricaded windows, as if physical barriers could address the psychological torment these students endure. Clearly, they do not. The very fact that such measures are deemed necessary points to a deeper malaise in the system. At the heart of the issue lies the government’s policy shift, which prioritises competitive exams over board exam scores for college admissions. The introduction of objective, high-stakes tests has transformed education into a rote-learning marathon, creating a cottage industry of coaching centres that thrive on dreams but often deliver despair. For many students, failure in these exams becomes synonymous with personal worthlessness, a belief reinforced by societal expectations and parental pressure.
Parents, too, bear a share of the blame. Many send their children to Kota with unrealistic expectations, equating their success as parents with their child’s admission to a prestigious institution. This tunnel vision ignores the individual capabilities, aspirations, and mental health of the students themselves. It is time to redefine success. Clearing an entrance exam is not the sole yardstick of achievement. Parents, educators, and policymakers must recognise that every student has unique talents, and it is their responsibility to nurture these, not to impose rigid definitions of success.
Teachers and hostel authorities must be trained to identify early signs of distress, and counselling services should be made readily available. The tragedy of Kota reflects a system that values results over resilience. Until the nation collectively addresses this cultural obsession with ranks and marks, the city will continue to churn out not just toppers but also heart-wrenching stories of loss. Only compassion, not competition, can save Kota’s brightest minds.
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