Factory no more? Kota witnesses lowest student admissions

New Delhi: This year, the economic crisis has descended on the city of students and has begun to affect Kota, a well-known city for offering to coach for engineering and medical admission tests nationwide. Just 1.20 lakh students have visited Kota for coaching so far in 2024, which is half as many as in prior years. Under these circumstances, the city's economy has begun to deteriorate. The main reason for this is that the coaching centers that were founded here have opened their branches to other states; therefore, fewer students who were formerly from UP and Bihar are now attending Kota.

Hostel's taking the big hits

According to hostelers, the industry has been most affected by the decrease in the number of students visiting Kota. The hostel rooms are vacant, and they are not even able to pay their bills. Students have arrived at Coral Park, the new coaching hub, where things have started to go south. The cost of a hostel room, which used to be available for Rs 18000 or Rs 20,000, has drastically decreased. For Rs 4000 to Rs 5000, the room is available right now. To maintain their hostels, many hostel owners also give food to the students in addition to rooms. This has a direct impact on people's jobs.

Shops are seeing a decline in customers. In certain regions, people have closed their companies. Coaching institutes have reduced staff salaries. Some coaching centers have even let go of employees. Previously, there was a constant stream of students in the markets of coaching cities. The current state of affairs is the reverse. The crowd at stores has vanished because students are not showing up as planned. Numerous stores have even been secured with locks.

Employees at the receiving end!

Some coaching facilities have sent their employees home. About 250 employees at a coaching center in the industrial region have lost their jobs. This covers maintenance personnel, housekeeping personnel, and back staff. Additionally, a few professors were sent home. Salary reductions of between 10 and 30 percent have occurred in another coaching institute.

Kota's conundrum 

The mess manager of a hostel, Hemraj, mentioned that a lot of other messes in the area had shut down. His mess held two hundred and fifty pupils. He had expanded the capacity in 2022 when the student body grew, but this year just 60–70 students are using the mess for meals. Employees have to be taken out as well. Mess operator Balbir reported that 2800 students used to frequent his various locations for meals; however, this number has since dropped by half, which has resulted in a reduction in staff.

This time, fewer students have come to Kota, according to Seema, who is in charge of the hostel under lease. This is because coaching institutes have opened branches in other states. Both the hostel industry and the coaching industry are directly affected by it. Other companies are suffering greatly as well. There were a lot of businesses operating on a large scale, including restaurants, roadside food courts, juice centers, tea stalls, cobblers, tailors, dry cleaners, fast food, fast food vendors, dairy, kiosks, autos, taxis, restaurants, bicycles, bike rentals, photo studios, photocopies, grocery stores, general stores, mobile repair, stationery, printing, and everyday use shops.