The Kota syndrome

Fifty-seven young men and women have committed suicide so far in the hyper competitive coaching factories of Kota. The town's thriving industry, worth Rs 1,800 crore, prods young men and women to fulfil their parents' dreams by “cracking” IIT JEE or NEET. The pressure — from parents and the institutes — takes little note of the mere 3 per cent success rate and the distress caused by it. Close to two lakh students go to Kota, prepared to pay any price for a coveted IIT or government medical college seat. Kriti Tripathi (17), the seventh to commit suicide this year, wanted in her suicide note Kota's coaching industry to be shut down because it “sucks”.  

IITs were conceived as part of a post-Independence nation-building project under which the future “temples of modern India” would be envisaged. Over the period they have been reduced, for their exclusivity, to offer a licence to social distinction, thanks to flawed education policies and askewed middle class aspirations. Forty-five lakh students take an examination every year for close to 9,000 prestigious IIT seats. Girls and boys, aged between 13 and 15, start living in Kota, away from their home, to get an edge over others.  

The industry takes advantage of the bizarre education system in which a student with a 90 per cent score in Class 10 gets close to 20 per cent marks in tests to get into a coaching institute. ‘Dummy schools’ exist, even flourish, giving students the benefit of attendance in Class 12, in connivance with the industry. Despite several steps taken up by a proactive administration in Kota such as setting up a helpline, appointing counsellors and ensuring forced off-days for the industry, not much has changed. Till the education system lays stress on aptitude tests and till a sufficient number of IITs and medical colleges are opened, young lives would continue to be consumed by their self-inflicted “gulags” in Kota.