That a record number of students have died this year in Kota points to a deeper epidemic of mental health, which has its roots in the socioeconomic triggers that force families to push young students to shoulder tremendous stress. More proof of this came this week following a survey conducted over five months by a district medical team led by the Kota chief health and medical officer(CMHO) Jagdish Soni. This survey — held in the same period 19 young people took their lives in India’s coaching hub — identified at least 83 other students with severe depression and found that they needed psychiatric counselling and medication, and help from parents and administrators of the coaching centres. Soni also recommended constant monitoring to ensure that these vulnerable students don’t tip into an abyss of suicidal thoughts.
For some time, it has been clear that the stories of success and mobility scripted in Kota — and many of them are genuine— have a dark underbelly where a small pool of students are paying a terrible price for not being able to cope with the pressure inflicted by the crushing schedule of tests and continuous comparison. The deaths this year — the highest in eight years — have prompted the government to institute a raft of measures. Unfortunately, as the survey underlines, stop-gap measures will always be found wanting in dealing with this problem that is rooted in aspiration, structural gaps in the education system, and poor oversight of a high-pressure system. Authorities need to craft solutions that can gradually overhaul the examination system, and institute more stringent monitoring of vulnerable students, expanding mental health facilities and dispelling the stigma around asking for help.
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