Education is not about learning facts, but training the mind to think. Education is considered as one of the most important tools by which you can change the world. Education is a movement, from darkness to light. And to spread such light in the largest state of the country, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has turned every possible stone.
District Kota is known as the education hub of the Country. It has turned out to be a prominent hub for medical and engineering entrance examinations and lures thousands of students every year. Students from all around the country come here to specifically prepare for AIPMT and IIT-JEE. Environment of Kota is surely having an air of education and sound of literature. Education in Kota aspires to excel in the overall development of the students and the city as well. It has been voyage from an industry to an education city. Kota have some of the most experienced and prestigious educational institutes that have challenged modern conventions in education. The coaching classes of Kota have year after year given the country exceptionally high success rates in the all-India entrance examinations.
But like every coin has two sides, so has this case. Education in Kota took a dark turn when students under the high pressure and stress of clearing the examination started committing suicides. India’s little own factory of producing intelligent and smart doctors and engineers suddenly raised the charts of students committing suicides. What exactly went wrong? What forces a 18 year old bright student to jump off and end the precious life? Why does Kota kill?
Kota, the country’s largest coaching factory where do or die is not a mere metaphor. A breeding ground for excellence, where the fear of failure is greater than the fear of death. The coaching institutes of Kota can make a welder’s son crack IIT and they make a lot of noise about it, but what about the rest 99.4%? No one speaks about them. It’s the survival of the fittest, or the survival of the coaching institutes that has deep pockets and zero ethics. The competition is so cut-throat that making friends, keeping cell phones and even celebrating birthdays is considered taboo. Unable to adjust to Kota’s culture shock, the students are probably left with no other option than to end their lives. Understandably, the institutes have rested their defence on blaming the parents. They say parents have very high expectations, they think dropping their child off at a coaching institute is all they need to do. Fact is, Kota’s rupees 300 crore coaching industry strives on the typical Indian obsession with doctors and engineers; and catching them young is crucial in making big money. Thousands come to Kota each year but not all who come here make it. It’s the inability to accept this reality, which kills.
24 students have committed suicides in the past 16 months in Kota and the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Vasundhara Raje tries to understand how a breeding ground for academic excellence is snuffing out young lives. Expressing her concern over the tensions and stress among the students, CM Raje said that coaching institutes should behave like one and the owners must not make it an education factory. She said, “Students are the future of the country and they are our own children. It is responsibility of coaching institute owners to provide them a good and stress-free atmosphere so that they can perform well and without any stress.”
She believes good education sure pays in the long run and thus warned all the owners of the coaching institutes that the state government is very serious on such matters. She said all the students who are preparing hard for the examinations at the Kota coaching institutes are our own children. She directed the owners to create a peaceful and study environment at the coaching institutes as she emphasised on the fact that children are the future of the country and are brining laurels to the nation.
A child without education is like a bird without wings and only a good teacher/coaching institute knows how to bring out the best in the student.
