Kota's Quota

" Once i witnessed three suicides within the span of24 hours and it literally shattered me "

Being an ardent Newspaper reader I frequently came across articles related to suicides.I never paid much attention to thesetill I went toIIT coaching capital of India that isKota. This city is notoriously famous for coaching classes and high suicide rates. Every year about 15-20 students take their lives and as it happens in every case, no one is particularly blamed. The coaching industry flourish exponentially while some families lose a part of their happiness forever. As I saw the situation there, the coaching authorities sneakaway with excuses often which aim at the inefficiency of the Student . The heart broken families blame the coaching classes and this cycle goes on. In 2016 when it was a menace, the local administration took several steps to curb this problem but i hardly saw it being implemented at the grass root level.

The truth is, our society is to be blamed. There is a general notion in the society that a 'Good' student opts for science after the 10th and not only this he is surely supposed to go for Engineering or Medical after the high school. Every year about a million students appear for entrance exam, for only few thousand seats, in each case while other national level exams like CLAT sees hardly less than a Lakh.This clearly depicts the disparity among the choices being made for the higher studies. More than 2 Lakhs students come to Kota every year in hopes to make it to a good government college .Many of them are forced by the society or their parents. The coaching fees and the living in Kota is an expensive affair. Now a student is pressurized to do well, as he sees his parents' hard earned money being deposited for coaching classes . Not only the coachings, the hostel owners, PG accommodations and the Mess people earn a good amount of income. I have been studying in a boarding school since class 3rd, but still Ifelt homesick quite often. I can imagine the situation for those who went away from their homes for the first time, almost all of them.

I can recount the stress, fear of failure, desperation clearly on their faces. . Students busy in jotting down notes. Eyes glued on the boards and everyone only talking about the cutoffs for colleges. SometimesI never knew the name of the person sitting next to me. Toiling day and night and still not making the cut, this is what leads to them such a pathetic situation where they see their failures as failing in life. Not being able to rise up to the expectationsand the shame of putting their parents money in vain is what actually drives many students to take harsh steps and ending their lives. Once I witnessed three suicides within the span of24 hours and it literally shattered me. What disappointsme more is that even after all these recurring cases no solid action is being taken. Why is the administration so quite when it comes to this? In 2016 Kota's DM called for a meeting and summoned the coaching owners. But some media reports says that the meeting was prefixed.

Some questions however still remains unanswered. Why the coaching fee is so high as 2 Lakhs per year? Why is there no body present in the current administrartive system to take care of this? Why isn’t there abody to regulate them ? Why does a student get suicidal , and in case he does why are there no proper counsellors? When did itbecome so important to attend coaching classes to score well? How long will Kota be a place for suicides?

The day these questions are taken into consideration, I am sure all the students will able to go back home rather than surrendering themselves to God.

The writer attended coaching in Kota in year 2018-19. All views are personal.