WHAT HAPPENS IN Kota no longer stays in Kota. There’s even a show about it.
In a scene in the recently released third season of Kota Factory, actor Tillotama Shome, who plays a chemistry teacher, says, “Aapko pata toh hai Kota factory ban chuka hai. Jahan pehle dheere-dheere taraash kar bacchon ko kabil banaya jata tha, wahan mass production lag gaya hain [You must be aware that Kota has turned into a factory now. Where once children were nurtured and there was a gradual progression of their skills, now there is mass production].” This dialogue mirrors a dark reality.
It has been nearly impossible to miss what has been happening in Kota, the coaching capital of the country, unless one is living under a rock. The ‘technical glitch’ leading to this year’s National Eligibility-Cum-Entrance Test (NEET) controversy has lifted the veil on the systemic issues and loopholes in the Indian examination process, especially in the medical and engineering fields. The protests that have erupted all over the country post the fiasco are evidence of the shared discontent among aspirants. This aside, the increasing number of student suicides in Kota, especially of those from financially weak backgrounds, year after year has taken the sheen off Kota’s success streak. The exorbitant fees charged by coaching centres have put middle class and lower middle class families under severe pressure. Yet, the city sees lakhs of incoming aspirants every year.
It all began with V.K. Bansal setting up Kota’s first IIT-JEE coaching centre―Bansal Classes―in the 1990s. As its popularity grew, several coaching centres set base here and soon it earned the ‘factory’tag.
Dinesh Jain, regional business head, Physics Wallah, says that over the years, they have been witnessing a slowdown in admissions because of the negative publicity the city gets over student suicides. “PW opened in Kota in June 2022. That year, we saw a huge amount of business as coaching centres had reopened post Covid and students were eager to join physical coaching classes,” he says. “Of our 30,000-student capacity, we saw 28,000 admissions. The following year, we saw 21,000 admissions, and this year so far, we have had only 11,000 admissions. This shrinking student count is purely because of the negative publicity.”
Jain argues that student suicides happen in other cities as well, but such incidents from Kota make it to the news faster as it is a coaching hub. According to police data, six students have died by suicide till June this year, 26 had died by suicide in 2023, 15 in 2022, 18 in 2019 and 20 in 2018. No suicides were reported in 2020 and 2021 as coaching centres were working offline or were closed because of the pandemic.
“The main reasons are parental pressure, home sickness and vulnerability,” says Jain. “Many students are young and living alone in hostels for the first time. They end up wasting the first six months and then realise it is too late for preparation and that they cannot cope or afford another year of classes. This leads to depression. Parents are also at fault as they lose connect with their children and don’t guide or counsel them enough.”
Earlier this year, the department of higher education, ministry of education, brought out guidelines for regulation of coaching centres to safeguard the interests of students and parents. Also, on the orders of Kota District Collector O.P. Bunkar, many hostels have installed a spring device on ceiling fans to curb suicides.
According to a spokesperson from ALLEN Career Institute in Kota, there is a team of more than 100 mental health professionals, counsellors and educators to support students. “We recognise the pressures that students face, and we have implemented comprehensive measures to address these challenges,” says the spokesperson. “This includes regular counselling sessions, stress management workshops, and a robust support system to ensure that no student feels alone. These services are for every student of Kota. We are committed to creating a safe and nurturing environment where students can thrive both academically and emotionally.”
On the NEET controversy, ALLEN’s spokesperson says that they welcome the National Testing Agency’s decision to conduct the re-examination of students who received grace marks and hope that all discrepancies have been addressed.
Dipshikha Das from Malda, West Bengal, who has been studying in Kota for a year, says that her parents admitted her to a coaching centre in Kota as they had heard about its academic environment. “I am preparing for JEE as I plan to be part of IIT Bombay some day,” says the 17-year-old. She adds that the life of an aspirant in Kota is full of challenges. “There is parental pressure to score well; there is also a lot of competition between students and facing all this alone is hard at times,” she says. “But I make sure to stay connected with my mother. She counsels me on my bad days.”
Dev Bahadur from Patna, who also plans to join IIT Bombay, says that he makes his to-do list every night for the following day and sticks to it religiously. “I feel demotivated at times but as soon as I call home, I feel better,” says the class 12 student. “However, I don’t tell them about the pressures I am under because I don’t want to stress them out. I try dealing with it myself. The financial aspect is what drives many students to suicides, and the fear of failure further pushes them.”
This factory needs a reset!