Last of a 2-part series looks at how stakeholders have united to offer students a safe atmosphere through counselling, anti-suicide infra, and recreation
This is the second of a 2-part series on Kota’s tuition industry. The first part looked at how adverse publicity around student suicides has brought down enrollments at Kota institutes, hitting the local economy hard.
As Kota battles the ignominy of student suicides and a resultant slump in its economy, stakeholders – from coaching centres to hostels to police to tiffin-delivery centres – have come together to resurrect the city’s famed coaching industry and wipe off the negative publicity around it.
‘Why no publicity about saved lives?’
Kota Collector Dr Ravindra Goswami, in conversation with The Federal, expressed concern over the negative publicity that the tuition hub has been getting in the media over the student suicides. The media always talks about the deaths, but not about the lives that have been saved due to initiatives taken by the administration, he said.
Also read: 'Sorry Papa': Another student suicide rocks coaching hub Kota, sixth this year
“The number of suicides always gets highlighted. But we have no news about the number of students who are being counselled and discouraged from taking any extreme steps. Out of 10 students we counsel, perhaps one attempts suicide, and the rest do not. But that part never gets highlighted in the news pages,” he rued.
‘Dinner with Collector’
Goswami said Kota is the only city that has trained 10,000 gatekeeping staff, who keep an eye on students and start monitoring and counselling those who seem depressed or sad and want to be left alone.
“At ‘Dinner with Collector’ programme every Friday, I personally interact with students, mingle with them and hear out their problems. We have a ‘Samvad’ programme to reach out to the students. Not only me, but our staff often goes and interacts with the students randomly. The whole idea is to create a positive and supportive environment for them,” he said.
Goswami added that it’s not just the coaching industry or the administration that is taking such initiatives, but people from all walks of life like the auto-rickshaw drivers and tea vendors have also chipped in to create an enabling atmosphere for students.
Also read: Days after student hangs to death, Kota hostel seized for no 'anti-suicide' fans
Rule reforms, better security
People involved in the counselling exercises say frequent interactions with students have often brought to light problems that may seem inconsequential to a non-student yet are significant enough to act as deterrents. These include overcharging by auto-rickshaw drivers and hostel owners, the quality of food served in hostels or rented accommodations, safety protocols, and medical emergencies, all of which are being sorted out with inputs from all quarters.
To give students who study for 10 to 12 hours a day a breath of relief and fresh air, the administration has provided them free access to the Chambal riverfront and other recreational areas.
Vishwanath Sharma, president of the Chambal Hostel Association, said the caution or security money, which was mandatory earlier for aspirants, has been waived. “There are around 4,000 hostels and 40,000 PG (paying guest) accommodations across Kota. Students would not have to pay two months’ rent in advance from now on," he told The Federal.
"There has been standardisation of maintenance charges with an annual cap of Rs 2,000. Installation of modern safety infrastructure which includes compulsory anti-hanging devices, CCTV and biometric systems, and special provisions for women’s hostels have been put in place,” he added.
Also read: Rising student suicides: Why Gujarat is failing to hear the cries of help
What drives students to suicide?
Its traditional and time-tested classroom teaching accompanied by a high-pressure competitive environment is what has been Kota’s USP till now.
For years, coaching institutes have also been dogged by complaints of segregating students into elite and non-elite groups on the basis of internal marks and creating a cut-throat divide. Many have also complained about the quality of teachers, as the level of attention from ‘star’ teachers depends on the batch that a student gets enrolled in.
Already battling a fierce academic environment and the uncertainty of success, students get further burdened by family expectations and the fact that their parents have spent a fortune to send them to Kota and failure is not an option. This kind of extreme mental stress often acts as trigger for suicides among aspirants.
Intense counselling
The alarming number of suicides has pushed the city’s institutions to wake up and work towards addressing mental issues among students.
Also read: Rajasthan minister blames 'parental pressure', 'love affairs' for student suicides in Kota
Allen Career Institute, one of the biggest coaching institutes in Kota, which boasts of around 60,000-65,000 students a year, has a team of 100 people to counsel and look after students battling mental stress. The team includes 44 qualified psychological counsellors and 15 academic counsellors, eight MBBS doctors, two MDs (Doctor of Medicine) and two psychiatrists, said Dr Himanshu Sharma, head of Sanishtha, an emotional wellbeing centre for students and parents.
Several other institutes with around 15,000 students have around five to six counsellors each besides government-appointed counsellors, he told The Federal.
‘Studies not the only culprit’
Sharma asserted that studies and the high-pressure environment in Kota are not always the triggers behind student suicides. A broken relationship, parental pressure, and gaming addition are also some major causes of the suicides, he said.
Narrating a case, where a brilliant student and a high scorer, died by suicide three days after arriving in Kota, Sharma said: “We can say that academic stress could not have been the reason here. Other than academic stress, there are many other issues like love affairs, parental pressure and expectations, broken ties with parents and gaming addiction among students.”
Also read Kota suicides | ‘Parents tell children there’s no going back’: Police, coaching institutes
“We have counselled parents who feel ashamed if their child is not able to cope here. When we advise them to take back their wards, many are reluctant. That is why we are also hearing about student disappearances lately. This is precisely because parents do not want the child to come back before completing their coaching. It is a kind of social stigma for them,” he told The Federal.
Counsellors as buddies
Sharma said several proactive steps are being taken to reduce academic stress and regularly monitor mental issues amongst students. As part of the exercise, counsellors interact with students on a daily basis, be it in their classrooms, canteens, libraries or gaming area.
Each has a task cut out – that they must talk to 20 students and file a report by the end of the day.
“This exercise has definitely helped to break the barrier between the students and counsellors. They are more like buddies with whom the students can relate and open up. They can even talk about their friends, who may be depressed. This way it becomes a bit easier to identify unusually quieter students, who may be feeling isolated and lonely in an alien city,” said Sharma.
Also read: Star, Leader, Dropper: Experts warn against Kota batches after suicide rise
Maternal instinct, community spirit
This is a sea change in the system from the earlier times, when only tele-counselling was available if a student was found absent from class for more than two to three days, said Sharma.
“Now, counsellors approach hostels, seek out the student, counsel them personally, call their parents, advise them too and in necessary cases also advise parents to take back the students while helping with the refund of the tuition fees,” he added.
Vatsalya is another recently-started programme, where mothers living with students in Kota, are counselled on providing emotional support, love and affection to their children, sit with them if their children are tense before exams and encourage them by being a guide and companion. Mothers are also counselled not to hesitate to call a counsellor anytime they see the child or themselves getting distressed.
Sharma said the meeting of mothers is also a way to develop a bond among themselves — these are women who have come to assist their children, leaving everything behind.
Also read: Police turn counsellors in Kota to halt spate of student suicides
Challenges galore
Kota, which has put in place ingenious community-driven and wellbeing initiatives, however, needs to bring back its core strength, which is students in larger numbers, to revive its local economy. Of all the students who take coaching to get admissions into IITs and medical colleges in a year, at least 10 per cent come to Kota.
Nitesh Kumar, Vice President, Corporate Communications, Allen Career Institute, said parents, deterred by the suicides and strict guidelines for registration at Kota’s coaching centres which prohibit admission of students below 16 years, besides high tuition fees, now prefer sending their children to coaching centres at home.
The mushrooming of branches of branded coaching centres across major cities is helping parents keep their wards in their home cities, he told The Federal.
Also read: Student suicides prompt grandparents, moms to move to Kota with wards
Innovation, publicity need of the hour
Experts say it is also imperative for Kota’s coaching institutes to revisit the famed classroom teaching methodology if they want students to come back.
Manoj Sharma, Growth Strategist, Resonance, said there must be a continuous innovation in products and services to make coaching affordable and accessible for students. It includes innovation in teaching methodology, study material, testing system, academic analytics, personalised focus and self-paced learning, human resources’ productivity and efficiency, and cost management.
“A proactive approach towards emerging trends and changes happening in the industry have to be kept in mind to retain leadership," he told The Federal.
"The constant upskilling of faculty is required, but what is most important is to highlight Kota’s individual success rate. What is being done now is that institutes give out cumulative results and successes from all their branches together. There is a gap in communication there. Kota-centric success stories have to be brought out and microanalysis of results have to be done to get students back to our city,” he added.
Scope for change
In the context of wellbeing, Sharma said there is definitely a dearth of qualified counsellors, and the gap needs to be filled.
Also read: Days after student hangs to death, Kota hostel seized for no 'anti-suicide' fans
“The biggest learning during the COVID disruption was that Kota till then had invested only in sprawling campuses and bigger classrooms to accommodate more and more classroom students. They learnt that a blended approach of physical classes and online must be adopted. But the consequent fall of many Ed-tech companies due to aggressive marketing and financial mismanagement should also be a case study for the Kota eco-system to revitalise itself.”
IT hubs, an airport
In terms of accessibility, Kota’s greenfield airport is still in the pipeline. There are plans to set up IT hubs modelled after Bengaluru to absorb students.
Kota’s story has been one of reverses and upheavals but each time its resilience and fortitude helped it to fight back any form of adversity. Now the city's offering of community-driven initiatives focusing on both academic and emotional well-being of students is a first-of-its-kind service being provided by any city in India, insist Kota residents.
The constant improvisation is filling them with a hope that the army of students would return, and Kota’s sheen would be back.
(Suicides can be prevented. For help please call Suicide Prevention Helplines: Neha Suicide Prevention Centre – 044-24640050; Aasara helpline for suicide prevention, emotional support & trauma help — +91-9820466726; Kiran, Mental health rehabilitation — 1800-599-0019, Disha 0471- 2552056, Maithri 0484 2540530, and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050.)
