‘Mummy, papa, I can't do JEE’; student dies by suicide in Rajasthan's Kota, note says this was her last option

Tribune Web Desk

Chandigarh, January 29

Another student preparing for competitive exams has died by suicide in Rajasthan's Kota, police said.

This is the second suicide by a student this month bringing forth the issue of exam stress among coaching students.

On January 23, 19-year-old Mohammed Zaid was found hanging in his hostel room in Kota. He had come to the city from Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad district a year back to prepare for the medical entrance exam NEET.  No suicide note was found in that case.

Niharika Singh from Kota's Borkheda area was preparing for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and was found hanging at her residence.

The police have initiated an investigation. They also found a suicide note.

“Mummy, Papa, I can't do JEE. So I suicide [sic]. I am loser [sic]. I worst daughter [sic]. Sorry Mummy, Papa. This is the last option I have," read the note.

The suicide was reported on a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi held his annual interaction with students preparing for their school board exams, asking them and their parents not to let competition get to them.

Niharika lived at her family home in Shiv Vihar Colony in the city's Borekheda police station area and was to take her JEE test on January 30 or 31, circle officer DSP Dharmveer Singh said.

The suicide note suggested she was under the stress of studies and found herself unable to tackle the exam, the officer said.

The student was the eldest of three sisters. Her father is a security guard at a private bank in Kota, he said. The family hails from Akawdakhurd village in Jhalawar district and has been staying in the city for the last three years.

Her cousin said Niharika was under severe stress over the upcoming JEE test. She had to repeat her 12th class exam because she got a low score, the relative told reporters outside the mortuary.

However, according to him, she was good at studies and devoted seven to eight hours every day to it.

Niharika's grandmother knocked at the door of her room around 10 am. When there was no response, she raised an alarm. The family found her hanging from the ventilator window above the door.

Last year, 26 students allegedly died by suicide in Kota, where children come from across the country to prepare for competitive tests like the National Entrance Exam (JEE) for admission to top engineering colleges.

The Department of Higher Education under the Ministry of Education (MoE) had last week released the ‘Guidelines for Regulation of Coaching Centres, 2024’.

The guidelines state that coaching centres cannot enroll students below 16 years of age and that enrolment has to be done only after the senior secondary school examination. This had invited mixed reactions.

While the Coaching Federation of India, which has several coaching centres and institutes as members, reportedly decided to oppose the decision, city coaching centres and also a section of parents do not see the decision as a negative one. There have been several cases of suicide reported from Kota, a place known as a factory to churn out toppers for various competitive exams. With PTI inputs

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