A City in India Tries to Teach a New Image
Residents in Kota, India, are trying to steer the city's reputation away from being a national center of student suicides.
By Shefali Anand ContributorSept. 10, 2019, at 10:47 a.m.
Indian City Crafts a New Image
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Kota emerged as the go-to place for engineering and medical preparations, after some students enrolled here received high ranks in the entrance exams. From a dying industrial hub in the 1990s, Kota transformed into a cram-school powerhouse with dozens of large and small schools.(PRADEEP GAUR/HINDUSTAN TIMES/GETTY IMAGES)
KOTA, INDIA – THIS CITY in North India known for schools that prepare students for admission to top colleges has an image problem. In recent years it has gained notoriety as a place for student suicides.
In August, a 16-year-old boy who came to Kota to prepare for an engineering entrance exam was found dead, hanging from the ceiling fan in his room. An accompanying note indicated that he was depressed, according to Mahesh Singh, a police officer on the case.
The boy is one of 85 students authorities say have committed suicide in Kota since 2013 amid grueling study schedules, extreme pressure to succeed, and the stigma attached to poor performance. Now, a group of residents, backed by the city's largest so-called cram school, is trying to promote Kota as "Happiness City," organizing entertainment for students, motivational talks, and launching a "Happiness Card" that offers discounts at local shops.
"It's for the love of the city," says Shreyans Mehta, an entrepreneur who is part of the initiative. "We couldn't watch the name of the city being spoiled like this."
At the heart of the initiative lies the goal of preserving and promoting the mainstay of the economy of this city in the northern state of Rajasthan: the profitable private coaching industry. Every year, more than 150,000 students from across India attend Kota's cram schools, coaching institutes that prepare students for competitive university entrance exams.
The highest scorers make it to top medical and engineering schools, such as the Indian Institutes of Technology or IITs, whose alumni include Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
The sector has flourished thanks to a fixation among Indians to have their children become doctors and engineers, considered to be the most prestigious and lucrative careers.
Kota's student deaths made headlines in 2015 and 2016 when more than one a month were reported. Last year, 20 students took their lives, and this year, at least five, according to police data. National media branded it Suicide City, Killer Coaching Hub, or Killer Kota.
The Happiness City initiative was launched last summer in the wake of this bad press. A group, comprising city entrepreneurs and with the blessings of cram-school Allen Career Institute, organized events to "to cure the depression and stress of an individual," according to its website.
In November, it held a career fair to showcase various careers besides engineering and medical, said Siddharth Jain, a Kota garment manufacturer. Another fair is planned for this November and the group also wants to organize a good-parenting seminar, he said.
City Transforms Into Exam Coaching Hub
In 2018, more than 1 million students took the engineering entrance exam, vying for approximately 12,000 seats on offer by the 23 IITs.
The culture of highly competitive exams and a reliance on cram schools is prevalent throughout Asia. In China and South Korea, children prepare for 10 to 12 years to take their version of the SAT exam, which decides which university a student would get into. Children are under pressure to make it to the top colleges to get good jobs and subsequent prestige.
MORE: Countries With the Highest Suicide Rates ]
In India, there are different entrance exams for different lines of study, such as law, the military and engineering. To prepare for these, cram schools have sprouted in all major Indian towns.
Kota emerged as the go-to place for engineering and medical preparations, after some students enrolled here received high ranks in the entrance exams. From a dying industrial hub in the 1990s, Kota transformed into a cram-school powerhouse with dozens of large and small schools.
The largest school, Allen, taught 94,000 students last year in 17 buildings across the city, according to a spokesman. Numerous guest rooms, "messes" that serve meals to students, stationery shops and other businesses sprung up to capitalize on the growing student population.
On a Typical Day, No Time for Happiness
On a recent morning, hundreds of students, in uniforms that sport the logos of their cram schools, rushed to begin their day of studies. Among them was Aman Raut, 17, who aspires to be an engineer. Aman reaches his cram school by 6 a.m. to get a front row in a class of around 150 students. In some classes, he said, there are 200 to 300 students to a teacher.
After about seven hours of classes, Raut takes a lunch break and returns to his books for self-study. Exams are held every month, with results displayed on the school's notice board and sent to parents.
The sector has flourished thanks to a fixation among Indians to have their children become doctors and engineers, considered to be the most prestigious and lucrative careers.
Kota's student deaths made headlines in 2015 and 2016 when more than one a month were reported. Last year, 20 students took their lives, and this year, at least five, according to police data. National media branded it Suicide City, Killer Coaching Hub, or Killer Kota.
The Happiness City initiative was launched last summer in the wake of this bad press. A group, comprising city entrepreneurs and with the blessings of cram-school Allen Career Institute, organized events to "to cure the depression and stress of an individual," according to its website.
In November, it held a career fair to showcase various careers besides engineering and medical, said Siddharth Jain, a Kota garment manufacturer. Another fair is planned for this November and the group also wants to organize a good-parenting seminar, he said.
City Transforms Into Exam Coaching Hub
In 2018, more than 1 million students took the engineering entrance exam, vying for approximately 12,000 seats on offer by the 23 IITs.
The culture of highly competitive exams and a reliance on cram schools is prevalent throughout Asia. In China and South Korea, children prepare for 10 to 12 years to take their version of the SAT exam, which decides which university a student would get into. Children are under pressure to make it to the top colleges to get good jobs and subsequent prestige.
MORE: Countries With the Highest Suicide Rates ]
In India, there are different entrance exams for different lines of study, such as law, the military and engineering. To prepare for these, cram schools have sprouted in all major Indian towns.
Kota emerged as the go-to place for engineering and medical preparations, after some students enrolled here received high ranks in the entrance exams. From a dying industrial hub in the 1990s, Kota transformed into a cram-school powerhouse with dozens of large and small schools.
The largest school, Allen, taught 94,000 students last year in 17 buildings across the city, according to a spokesman. Numerous guest rooms, "messes" that serve meals to students, stationery shops and other businesses sprung up to capitalize on the growing student population.
On a Typical Day, No Time for Happiness
On a recent morning, hundreds of students, in uniforms that sport the logos of their cram schools, rushed to begin their day of studies. Among them was Aman Raut, 17, who aspires to be an engineer. Aman reaches his cram school by 6 a.m. to get a front row in a class of around 150 students. In some classes, he said, there are 200 to 300 students to a teacher.
After about seven hours of classes, Raut takes a lunch break and returns to his books for self-study. Exams are held every month, with results displayed on the school's notice board and sent to parents.
Students prepare for exams together in Kota, India.(PRADEEP GAUR/MINT/GETTY IMAGES)
When Raut moved to Kota in June, he says he used to play soccer some evenings, but lately he hasn't been able to because the coursework is getting tougher. Even on some Sundays, their official day off, there are extra classes, he says.
Like many students recently arrived to Kota, Raut says his experience so far is positive and he doesn't mind the routine. "I have to study. If I don't, someone else will win the competition."
Others are less accepting of life in Kota.
Parents worry about the health hazards of having cattle-breeding stations and large open sewer-like water in the city center. Some students say the food available in some local kitchens and fast-food shops is unsanitary.
"For me, Kota is hell," says Aman Choudhary, 19. He says he doesn't like that the city businesses are trying to make money off of students.
Then there is the monotonous routine.
Choudhary decided to come to Kota in May to prepare for the medical entrance exam that he will take for a third time in 2020 to improve his score. "There's frustration in studying the same thing again and again."
Choudhary says teachers have informally told them that going to the movies or making friends is taboo. Students who go out on the town and have fun are considered to not be serious.
For some, the pressure is unbearable.
Last year an aspiring engineering student last year missed a few cram-school classes because he fell ill. When he rejoined, he struggled to catch up. In what police say was a suicide note, the student wrote of the stress and depression he experienced over not achieving his goal of being accepted into the IIT.
Parents' Worries of Children Being Left Behind
In a 2017 study of cram school students by India's Tata Institute of Social Sciences, many students reported feeling helpless, worthless and "sad and upset through the day, and feeling like a failure."
Some students who don't have the aptitude or interest to become a doctor or engineer are forced into those fields by their parents, says Madan Lal Agrawal, a psychiatrist who runs a counseling hotline in Kota. Then there is financial pressure. The cost of studying and living in Kota for one year can exceed $8,000 after adjusting for the cost of the same items in the U.S. and India. Many families take loans to send their child to Kota.
MORE: Best Countries for Education, Ranked by Perception ]
Many students and parents say they haven't heard of the Happiness City Initiative. Some have heard about the suicides but that didn't lessen Kota's lure. Local cram schools are expanding their capacity to accept more students.
Neena Jain moved to Kota last year with her 16-year-old daughter to prepare her for her engineering exam in 2020. The girl stopped attending regular high school and is enrolled in a "dummy" school, where she is marked present without attending classes – a common tactic so that students can focus only on entrance exams.
Jain says she is happy with her daughter's cram school, which holds frequent internal exams. "This is a good thing. The whole year the child is under competition."
The girl studies 11 to 13 hours a day, and occasionally watches a cartoon or goes to the temple, but she doesn't go out with friends as that wastes time, Jain says.
The mother concedes that her daughter is missing out on part of her youth. "But what should I do?" Jain says. "If we don't go with the era, then the child will be left behind."
Shefali Anand, Contributor
Shefali Anand is a New Delhi-based journ
