It is true in some manner that the majority of parents in Indian society want to see their children succeed as doctors and engineers. However, most of the students, according to a report are unaware of the career options that want to opt for. It is to be noted here that although students are much more aware digitally during the pandemic years the perception of society and parents may have not changed much.Do you ever thought of how much the Kota coaching industry is worth According to the sources, it is estimated to be worth Rs 12,000 crore. With this number, it seems clear that they are just extracting the hard-earned money from the students and their families, both financially and in terms of results. Sometimes, they dont even think about the students who may go in distress and self-doubt, when they for an exam. Helpless students find themselves caught in more than 12 hours of study and work schedule, 7 days a week. And this is not all, when they do not get relief or respite from their busy schedule, they are sometimes even not able to crack the weekly tests at the coaching centres.Moreover, there is no mechanism to identify the pressure which gets built up. Sometimes, the students do not even get support from anyone, when they are away from their families, which builds up, a deep sense of failure, guilt, and helplessness that goes out of control for some to the point of no coming back.A spate of teenage suicides in Kota is raising an alarm for anyone in the society. When the whole nation was celebrating the success of Chandrayaan-3, the sharp rise in the tragic numbers in Kota was witnessing another case of suicide by a young aspirant. Most of the students come to Kota from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar from a middle-class background to be part of the grueling rat race with promises of making it big and taking their families out of their restricted lives and opportunities.Kota, a city in Rajasthan, India, has already developed a reputation for students suicide in the past one decade. Reports say that more than 100 young aspirants have lost their lives in the last 10 years. But this year, by September 13, 25 suicides have been committed by the aspirants. The rate of suicides is disturbing as almost 100,000 students come to Kota every year with a dream of becoming a rank holder. According to a report shared by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in 2020, a student committed suicide every 42 seconds or in other words 34 students commit suicide every day.As per Rajasthan police data, the number of suicides was 15 in 2022, 18 in 2019, 20 in 2018, seven in 2017, 17 in 2016, and 18 in 2015. However, no case was reported during 2020 and 2021 as all the coaching students were shut during the Covid-19 pandemic period.Notably, the pandemic Covid-19 opened gates for the mental health problems across communities in society and turned the spotlight on the issue. The rising numbers have now taken a protective stance, as the annual budget of the National Mental Health Programme which was a mere Rs 40 crore has been increased to Rs 134 in 2023-24. It appears that the Rajasthan government has taken a protective stance, as it has directed the officials to form a committee on the matter and promises to investigate the matter and find solutions to this, by including stakeholders, parents, representatives from the coaching institute, and doctors.
