Kota, the coaching capital of Bharat, is becoming infamous now a days with news of suicides of the aspirants of competitive examinations, not being able to cope with the stress associated with their preparations.
As per figures provided by the
district administration, in the recent past the suicide rate was
In 2016 17
2017 7
2018 20
2019 18
2022 15
2023 22 as of now.
In 2020 and 2021 students had left Kota because of Covid.
This issue must be looked at on a
macro level.
Why we are in the mindset that
cracking the entrance examinations for Engineering and Medical are the only
options for prosperity. Or even if this is a must, are the ways of teaching,
the ways of conducting the entrance exams also not responsible for such a
tragic scenario, year after year.
One must also look into the
living conditions - stay and food availability, in Kota, the timings of
coaching classes, is language barrier also affecting etc.
Besides government taking steps
through the education ministry we should also look at the role of voluntary
organisations stepping in. We have numerous voluntary organisations giving
lessons on de-stressing, on life skills development, on personality development;
then why not an exclusive organisation to de-stress the aspirants in Kota.
Such exclusive voluntary
organisations can offer free services with live sessions and even online
sessions for the youngsters. The speakers will have to be selected in such a
way that they are young, they will talk in the language that these youngsters
will accept, they will talk of real life instances etc. Like we have sessions
for the kids on how to increase their memory power, these youngsters can be
offered expert advice to achieve what they are looking for, but without stress.
Young engineers, entrepreneurs, doctors, who are good communicators can very effectively take up this responsibility and join hands with some voluntary organisations.
Retired seniors can play a very active role here. Knowledge and experience of these seniors can be made good use of. This would give these seniors a purpose in life and the satisfaction they will get will help them maintain better physical and mental health.
11 comments:
Good thought...but the fault lies with the coaching pattern...change that too..
Good suggestions
Would like to help
But anonymously
Very informative eye-opener about the sad fact of youth committing suicide unable to face the stress of failure in competitive exams. It is a shame that these young people and perhaps their parents and familihave not received counseling that besides what they consider the goal of their hard work there are several other possibilities for them to apply their knowledge and talents. We all should contribute our efforts to counsel the youth to handle such disappointment.
Arun Nathan
Very good Thought.
Parents are not aware of the child how he or she gets into stress then depression and finally suiside. It's the responsibility of all the stake holders including Coaching centre, hostels, Parents and related NGO to come together and provide some practical solution.
An excellent article with practical suggestions. Very well worded. In science and technology driven world, competitive environment and the fear of ‘being left behind’ have all contributed to suicidal tendencies especially among our youths. Dr Vijay Maroo should be congratulated for expressing his views on this vitally important topic - Prakash W.
Not only Kota, but the coaching institutions across India need to be curbed. They push students to such a tipping point that they can't think about anything else.
There are plenty of motivation speeches by famous personalities including Mr Mahindra. The issue is not this simple to resolve.
It requires scientific evaluations, pin pointed issues,individual,class & institutional signature outcome handling.
We do these but problem is red tape of the bureaucracy & institutions themselves.
We conducted the Govt of India's Mental Health study of Students, parents and teachers & the ministry published 6 books of our team.
When we reach out to institutions and IAS officers via official and non official channels, they come across as unconcerned & unwilling to use methods available.
At CatFit we designed a Mental Toughness course which includes evaluations, counselling, motivation and mental exercises so that students dont fall back into psychological issues. Question is, who is listening or bothered.
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