- Aabshar H Quazi, Hindustan Times, Kota | Updated: Oct 14, 2016 18:24 IST
Aman Kumar Gupta of Bihar who committed suicide in Kota. The IIT-coaching institutes in the city have come under the scanner after a string of suicides by students. (HT Photo)
A 16-year-old student allegedly committed suicide in Rajasthan’s Kota city moments after shooting an emotional video-message to his parents for “failing” to live up to their expectations, police said on Friday.
The student, identified as Aman Kumar Gupta of Bihar, jumped into the Chambal river from an under-construction bridge on Thursday, said police official Ramnath Singh.
The student informed some of his friends before killing himself, the 14th student to commit suicide in Kota this year.
Aman was a student in one of the city’s coaching institutes famous for preparing youngsters for the highly-competitive entrance examinations for different professional courses.
However, the institutes have come under the scanner after a string of suicides by students, most of them due to study-related stress and burden of family expectations.
In the 11.14-minute long video clip shot on his mobile phone, Aman expresses self-guilt and says he wanted to go ahead in life but would not be able to do so now.
“Papa always supported me but I brought shame to him in class 10th and (a) complaint was even made to the school principal then,” Aman is heard saying in the shaky video shot against what appeared to be concrete wall. The mobile phone was recovered from the spot later.
Attempting to hide his tears, an emotional Aman also referred to his “nanaji” (grandfather) as saying, “I would not be able to do it in life”. Aman called upon parents to forgive him and pursue the education of his younger brother, whom he referred to as ‘Chhotu’, without keeping him away from them.
Experts say that long periods of stay away from parents also take a toll on the mental health of students studying in Kota, around 250 km from state capital Jaipur.
“Everyone at the coaching institute and my friends helped me but I am not been able to do it right,” he said, adding that his friends also used to tell him that he would not improve.
“Do not cry for me and I am committing suicide without any reason as I do not want to live,” he is heard saying in clip.
A Kota City police official said Aman hailed from Raghopur in Bihar’s Vaishali district, around 67 km north of capital Patna.
He had arrived to Kota about six months ago to join a medical entrance examination coaching institute. His father is a teacher in Bihar.
An official of the coaching institute said Aman was an above average student when he joined but his performance had fallen in recent times.
Every year, more than 1.5 lakh student from across the country enroll in the 40-odd coaching institutes to prepare for different entrance examinations.
More than 60 students have committed suicide in the last five years, most of them attributed to the fear of failure.
Recently, several coaching institutes jointly launched a round-the-clock helpline to offer counselling, track callers suffering from depression and provide assistance.
The district administration also asked all coaching institutes to conduct a screening test for students seeking admission to coaching institutes and to give parents an assessment of their wards’ chances of cracking the entrance exams.
