Kota: A 20-year-old student allegedly died by suicide in Rajasthan’s Kota on Monday, taking the total of such cases in this prominent coaching hub for competitive exams to 28 so far this year.
The student has been identified as Faureed Hussain, a native of West Bengal.
According to reports, the NEET aspirant was found hanging in his rented accommodation, housing a few other students as well, in Wakf Nagar area of the city and was rushed to a hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead.
Other students told police that they had seen him last at 4 pm. They alerted the landlord when he did not step out of his room till 7 pm and also did not respond to their calls. While the student was found dead, no suicide note was recovered from the spot.
Around two lakh students flock to Kota annually to prepare for competitive exams like the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) and the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET). Such incidents have sparked conversations on how combination of rigorous test preparation, long study hours, and parental expectations exert great pressure on the mental well-being of students.
Amid this disturbing trend, the district administration had earlier instructed coaching institutes to suspend regular testing for students preparing for NEET and other competitive exams for the next two months. A new set of guidelines were also introduced by the state government to curb the high suicide rate. Ceiling fans, repeatedly used by students to hang themselves, were also removed from rooms.
