(Trigger warning: Descriptions of suicide. Reader discretion is advised.)
A 16-year-old IIT aspirant, who was preparing for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) in Rajasthan’s Kota, allegedly died by suicide in the intervening night of 12 and 13 February.
This is the fourth case of death by suicide in the infamous 'coaching factory' in 2024.
The class 12 student had been preparing for the exam in Kota for two years. He passed away hours after the JEE Mains results were announced on Monday.
No suicide note was recovered, police officials told the media. Further investigation is underway.
Not the first case this year: Mohammad Zaidi, who hailed from Moradabad, died by suicide on 23 January. The 18-year-old was a student at a private coaching institute in Kota.
An 18-year-old JEE aspirant, Niharika Solanki, died by suicide in Kota on 29 January.
A final-year BTech student allegedly also died by suicide on 31 January. 27-year-old Noor Mohammed, a native of Uttar Pradesh’s Gonda district, was pursuing his BTech degree from SRM University, Chennai, and lived at a paying guest (PG) accommodation in Kota.
The bigger picture: At least 29 students died by suicide in Kota – Rajasthan’s infamous 'coaching factory' – in 2023 alone.
Earlier in January, the Union Ministry of Education proposed Guidelines for Regulation of Coaching Centre 2024 to bring coaching institutes under a legal framework and address the growing number of “unregulated centers,” amid the increasing number of student suicides. The Centre suggested:
Coaching centres cannot enroll students below 16 years of age, or students who have not yet qualified for their secondary school examinations.
Coaching institutes cannot make “misleading promises or guarantee of rank or good marks.”
Only coaching institutes that have a “counseling system” in place can get registered.
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