Kota

Business has slowed down for coaching centres and hostels in Kota following negative publicity over student suicides, new guidelines regulating coaching centres and the expansion of coaching brands to other cities, according to industry stakeholders. The number of students in Kota has fallen to 85,000 to 1 lakh this year from the usual 2 to 2.5 lakh, reducing the annual revenue to Rs 3,500 crore from Rs 6,500 to 7,000 crore, they said. Despite the setback, stakeholders remain optimistic about the credibility of the Kota coaching model and its environment, that is absent in other cities. Kota's educational system and environment are unmatched and will attract students back next session, which will compensate for the decline, Govindram Mittal, Zonal Chairperson, United Council of Rajasthan Industries said. He said that industrialists are also looking at alternative opportunities, with plans to establish Information Technology (IT) hubs in the city, modelled after Bengaluru. Earlier

Kota city police has arrested one of the accused, who was on the run for two years, in the alleged Delhi Police recruitment exam scam, a police official said. The accused was also wanted by the Kota police in another case related to forged documents. Akhilesh Kumar Singh (32), a resident of the Jamui district in Bihar and currently living in Delhi's Rohini, was arrested from Haryana's Jind district on Saturday in connection with a case of forged documents, Kota City SP Amrita Duhan said. Akhilesh is one of the accused in the Delhi Police recruitment exam scam, she added. Akhilesh took on rent the premises of Kota's Messrs Om Kothari Foundation for conducting an online examination in 2020. The accused, along with a local person identified as Himanshu Rathore, allegedly forged the signature of an official of the institute to prepare the required documents of proprietorship, and got it allotted as an online examination centre for the Delhi Police recruitment exam, police said. The sc

The rate of student suicides has been escalating at twice the rate of overall suicides in the country during the past 20 years, according to a IC3 report

According to estimates by people familiar with the churn, there has been a 30-40 per cent drop in enrolments compared to last year

Minimising the outsourcing of exam-related tasks by the NTA, setting up an education task force and a helpline to report irregularities and conducting competitive exams at least twice a year and only after board exams are among several suggestions made to the Centre by the Coaching Federation of India. The suggestions by the CFI, an umbrella body of coaching institutions across the country, came amid a raging row over alleged irregularities, including paper leaks, in exams. The federation, in its list of suggestions to prevent paper leaks, also expressed its displeasure at branding the coaching industry as "mafia for any wrong done by a few". It also criticised the educational institutions using paper leaks for publicity and encash student sentiments and play politics. "There should be no politics over the issue and students are already stressed with the uncertainty over the NEET exam and we need to understand their mental state and for any gain, students should not be used. The ...

In another suicide case in Rajasthan's Kota, a 20-year-old student took his own life in a hostel room taking the death tally to 8 this year. No suicide note was found at the scene

Kota has been in news for rising cases of students' suicides due to stress and other factors. In 2023, as many as 26 aspirants had died by suicide in the city while preparing for competitive exams

16-year-old Rachit Sondhiya, who had been missing for nine days, was found in Rajasthan's Chambal valley

Earlier this year, a BTech student, Noor Mohammed, JEE aspirant Niharika Singh, and NEET aspirant, Mohammed Zaid, died by suicide in Kota

A teenager in Rajasthan's Kota has built an all-purpose robot to help farmers assess soil and crop health, their water needs, and detect pests. Aryan Singh, 17, built the AgRobot at his school's Atal Tinkering Lab, a central government initiative to help school children hone their building skills. The son of a farmer, Aryan spent four years building the robot which won him the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar under science and technology category. Aryan was the only boy from Rajasthan among nine boys and ten girls from 18 states and Union Territories who won awards. He got the award from President Droupadi Murmu in New Delhi on January 22 this year. "I belong to a farming family, grew up watching my grandparents and parents working in the field. While studying in class 10, I conceived the idea of developing a multi-task device and later developed a prototype that can reduce farmers' labour in the field," Aryan told PTI. The boy sent his proposal to NITI Ayog's Atal Innovatio

Kota District Magistrate Dr Ravinder Goswami has launched a weekly 'Dinner with Collector' programme under the 'Kamyab Kota' campaign to ease the stress of the coaching students in this coaching city. Himself an MBBS and a former coaching student from the town, Goswami launched the programme last month in view of the rising number of suicides by coaching students, mainly due to study-related stress. Under the 'Dinner with Collector', he has dinner with the students in a hostel every Friday to listen to their mind and heart. On February 1, he interacted with the students of a hostel in the Indraprastha area. He sang Bollywood songs with the students, shared success mantras and motivated them. Notably, two coaching students and a 27-year-old BTech student committed suicide by hanging last month. Twenty-six coaching students allegedly committed suicide in Kota in 2023, the highest figure so far in the city, where over two lakh students come from all parts of the country every year for

The victim was to give the JEE test in a day or two. She lived at her family home in Shiv Vihar Colony in the city's Borekheda area

Some say parents, students, institutes will find alternatives to cater to demand

The development follows amid increasing cases of suicides by students in Rajasthan's Kota and elsewhere, stemming from a mental-health epidemic due to study pressure and other related stress

A help desk dedicated to coaching students received 373 complaints in two months since its launch here in September and those suffering from depression were provided professional counselling and medical help, officials said. Several steps were taken by the Kota administration in September following a spurt in alleged suicides by Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) and NEET aspirants studying at the coaching centres here. Among the various measures taken to ensure a stress-free environment, students in coaching centres were exempted from routine tests for around a month and noted motivational speakers conducted sessions with students. Officials said the the Students' Help Desk is constantly been working with JEE and NEET aspirants in informal ways while identifying cases that are of concern. Of the total 373 complaints received in September and October, 35 were related to stress and depression, which were addressed by professional counsellors, ASP Chandrasheel Thakur told PTI. Other complain

A 20-year-old NEET aspirant from West Bengal was found hanging in his rented accommodation here but no suicide note has been recovered from his room, police said on Tuesday. Faureed Hussain (20), a native of West Bengal's Birhum district had been preparing for the medical entrance exam NEET at a coaching institute in Kota for around a year. He had been living the rented accommodation in Wauf Nagar since July this year. Some other students of coaching institutes also lived in the same house. Hussain was last spotted in the afternoon hours of Monday. When he did not come out of his room till 8 pm, his friends called him but he did not open the door. Following this, they informed the house owner, who called the police, Circle Inspector at Dadabari police station Rajesh Pathak said. Police rushed to the spot and broke the door open to find the youth hanging, he said, adding, "No suicide note was found in the room and the reason behind the extreme step is yet to be ...

BJP President J P Nadda visited Kota, Rajasthan ahead of state Assembly polls to hold discussions regarding 17 Assembly says in Hadoti region

The BJP is yet to give any clarity regarding former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje's role in the upcoming state Assembly elections

Earlier on Monday, Nadda visited Rajasthan's Udaipur where he conducted meetings in two sessions for the Udaipur region in view of the upcoming polls

The alarming number of student suicides in coaching hub Kota is a sensitive issue and it is our collective responsibility to keep students stress free, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said, adding that the issue of dummy schools cannot be ignored. In an interview to PTI, Pradhan said no lives should be lost and the Centre is taking initiatives to ensure that coaching is not required and school education is enough. Asked about record student suicides in Rajasthan's Kota this year, Pradhan said, "it is a very sensitive issue. No lives should be lost..they are our kids. They do not even have maturity or knowledge about what is happening to them. It is our collective responsibility to keep students stress free." "There are enough positive models in the country, they need to be replicated.... through technology, through social outreach, through taking care and counselling. NCERT is brainstorming about it, education department is working too..state government is also coming up