'Half-day study, half-day fun' among measures to tackle Kota suicide cases
The Rajasthan government held a meeting on the rising suicide cases in Kota and decided that measures such as "half-day study, half-day fun" would be adopted to tackle the issue.
"Half-day study, half-day fun" on one weekday, identification of students with suicidal tendencies and psychological counselling are among the decisions taken on Monday in a meeting on the rising suicide cases in Rajasthan's Kota.
Representatives of coaching institutes and hostel associations also attended the meeting chaired by Bhawani Singh Detha, principal secretary (higher and technical education), through video conference, officials said.
Detha is also the chairman of a committee formed at the direction of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot to look into the issue. The committee will visit Kota on September 2 to take stock of the situation.
Among the other decisions taken in the meeting, coaching institutes have been asked to form a committee of subject experts in an attempt to reduce the burden of courses on students.
The institutes have also been asked to hold online motivational sessions by experts and upload the same on social media for the benefit of all students.
It was decided in the meeting that the coaching institutes will hold "half-day study, half-day fun" on every Wednesday and they will not conduct any routine tests for the next two days, the officials said.
A form will be developed for coaching students to fill in every day so that their mental status can be assessed.
Besides, absentees from the routine tests and poor performers will be identified and they will be provided psychological counselling, the officials said.
The meeting was held a day after two NEET aspirants died by suicide on Sunday.
The other officials who attended the meeting included Kota Collector OP Bunkar, SP Sharad Chaudhary, Additional Collector (Administration) Rajkumar Singh, and Additional SP Bhagwat Singh Hingad.
"It is an alarming situation as so many students are committing suicides," Kota district collector Bunkar told reporters after the meeting on Monday afternoon.
The preliminary meeting was held to discuss short and long-term measures to check the rising suicide cases, he added.
The decision on immediate and long-term measures taken in the meeting to check suicide cases would help release the stress of the students and create a favourable environment, Bunkar added.
Kota City SP Choudhary proposed to set up an exclusive police station for students.
"As an expansion of students' police helpdesk is already functional, I gave the idea of setting up a police station for students in Kota to address their concerns," Chaudhary told reporters.
The draft proposal for an exclusive students' police station would be sent to the state government for sanction in the next few days, the SP (City) said.
On August 18, Gehlot held a meeting of all the stakeholders and directed them to form the committee headed by Detha, which will submit its report within 15 days.
Two students, preparing for competitive exams in Kota, died by suicide on Sunday, in a span of four hours. According to authorities, 24 students have ended their lives so far in 2023 -- the highest for any year. Last year, the figure was 15.
More than two lakh students move to Kota, a coaching hub, annually to prepare for competitive exams such as the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) for admission to engineering institutes and the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for medical colleges.
