Rajasthan: Another JEE student dies by suicide in Kota, 16 in six months

A 17-year-old Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) aspirant was found dead in his rented accommodation in Rajasthan’s Kota on Saturday, taking the number of student suicides in the coaching hub to 16 this year, police said

Jaipur

In 2023 alone, 16 students have died by suicide and 10 have died in the last three months in Kota’s coaching hubs. (Representational Image)

A 17-year-old Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) aspirant was found dead in his rented accommodation in Rajasthan’s Kota on Saturday, taking the number of student suicides in the coaching hub to 16 this year, police said. An officer familiar with the matter said that the student came to Kota ifrom Uttar Pradesh district to prepare for the national entrance examination for engineering courses.

“The student, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, was attending JEE coaching classes in Kota for the last couple of months and was staying in a paying guest house. On Saturday morning, the student possibly is suspected to have taken the extreme step when his roommate left for the library. The body was discovered later in the day when the roommate returned and had to break open the door. The victim’s landlord informed the police and the body was sent to the district medical college hospital for autopsy,” sub-inspector (Mahaveer Nagar), Paramjeet Singh, said.

The reason behind the suspected suicide is yet to be ascertained as no suicide note has been recovered from the victim’s room yet, Singh said. A preliminary probe indicated there were no behavioural changes in the student, but we are waiting for his family members to arrive to proceed with the investigation, he added.

In 2023 alone, 16 students have died by suicide and 10 have died in the last three months. On June 27, a 17-year-old NEET aspirant from Udaipur was found dead in his room, while another student from Maharashtra was found dead on June 12. Since 2011, government data shows, at least 121 students have died by suicide in the coaching hub.

In the wake of such cases, the Rajasthan government has proposed a bill to regulate coaching institutions, that envisages an aptitude test before enrolment, a mandate not to glorify toppers, and for institutes that have often been accused of profiteering at the expense of students to get their balance sheets audited. In reply to a question raised by an MLA Pana Chand Meghawal in February, the state home department said that there had been 52 deaths in Kota between 2019 and 2022, and that underlying reasons included a “lack of confidence in students if they score less marks; high expectations of the parents; physical, mental, and study related stress”. Police investigations have also revealed other causes such as a financial crunch, blackmailing and personal relationships, the reply tabled in the state legislature had said.