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Teen NEET aspirant dies by suicide in Kota, 3rd incident this week: Police
A 17-year-old student, who was preparing for the NEET for admission in undergraduate medical courses, died by suicide in Rajasthan’s Kota district on Friday.
A 17-year-old student, who was preparing for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admission in undergraduate medical courses, died by suicide in Rajasthan’s Kota district on Friday, police said, the third such incident this week.
Police said the teen from Patna and a Class 12 student was staying at a hostel in Kota for the past one year.
“The student hanged himself in the hostel on Friday morning. We received a call at around 11 am. A suicide note recovered from the spot suggests he was under stress,” a police officer familiar with the matter said, seeking anonymity.
A case has been registered at Kunhadi police station.
Kota district is the centre of India’s test-prep business, estimated to be worth ₹5,000 crore annually, according to officials in the district administration. Students from around the country arrive here in huge numbers after their Class X, and register in residential test-prep institutes. They also enroll in schools, most of which are largely for purposes of certification.
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Students attend classes only in the test-prep institutes, which prepare them for their Class XII examination, but more importantly, entrance examinations such as NEET and Joint Entrance Examination. Some students find the grind stressful, especially because they are away from their families.
On Thursday, a 15-year-old NEET aspirant from Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr district died by suicide at his hostel in Landmark City in Kunhari area. On Tuesday, a 22-year-old NEET aspirant from Bengaluru died allegedly by jumping from the 10th floor of a multi-storey building in Vigyan Nagar after appearing for the NEET-UG exam two days earlier.
According to the government, at least 121 students have died by suicide in Kota since 2011. Fifteen have died since 2022.
In response to a query by a legislator, the home department in Februarysaid 52 students have committed suicide in the last four years. The department believes that the reason behind taking such an extreme step is “lack of confidence in students if they score less marks; another factor is high expectations of the parents; physical and mental, and study related stress”.
A surge in such suicide cases has prompted the state government to propose a law to regulate private educational institutes – from schools to universities to test-prep specialists – and ease the academic pressure on students, especially those enrolled in private coaching centres or online tutorials.
The government is planning to introduce a bill to prohibit private institutes from glorifying toppers, prescribe an aptitude test for admission and make registration mandatory for all such institutes, even if they are only running online courses.
The Union government also has higher education regulators such as the University Grants Commission and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).