The spate of recent student suicides in Kota, the education hub of Rajasthan, has raised concerns among parents. As students stress about preparing for medical or engineering entrance exams, parents can start feeling helpless.
Experts spoke to Happiest Health regarding the struggles of students and how parents can help them cope with mounting stress through timely intervention.
Causes of stress among students
Top academic institutions have a limited number of seats. As adolescents work towards securing a place in their preferred institution, the competition levels peak. The result: anxiety and stress tend to peak, too.
Students gearing up for entrance exams go through the process of managing stress, bearing peer pressure and accepting failures with little or no emotional help in most cases.
The scenario in Kota comes across as the tip of the iceberg of what many families go through as a teenager prepares for an entrance exam. According to Neeraj Kumar, CEO of Peakmind, a psychological care company, who is also an alumnus of IIT Delhi, what matters most for a teenager preparing for entrance exams is parental support. As their children stress about preparing for medical or engineering entrance exams, parents can start feeling helpless.
Understanding the scenario in Kota
As per the media reports, 22 students succumbed to self-harm in the year 2023 so far, including six recent deaths in the month of August alone. Alarmed by the situation, the Rajasthan government has directed a high-power committee to visit Kota for a detailed analysis, besides publishing advertisements in newspapers seeking suggestions from the public to curb student suicide rates. The government has also instructed all coaching institutes to not conduct any tests for the next two months.
Kota houses over two lakh students aspiring to clear the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) and the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). This includes those in classes 11 and 12 as well as those taking a gap year to bag a seat in the country’s top engineering or medical colleges. These students come from diverse backgrounds and study amidst extreme pressure, observes Dr Sharma. “They may have been the toppers in their own schools or cities. However, in Kota, they compete with the best of students from different parts of the country,” says Dr Parag Sharma, a psychiatrist from Chandigarh who earlier worked in Kota. He adds that accepting failure can be a major challenge for these teenagers.
Handling stress by creating a local support system for students
“In human life, depression peaks at two points of time — once during adolescence and the other during old age. These students are alone, away from home during adolescence,” explains Dr Sharma.
The challenges of navigating this delicate phase of life alone, far from loved ones and familiar places, can be difficult. “For someone studying away from home, a local support system needs to be created. This should include people students interact with regularly, such as mentors in institutions, friends or landlords in hostels and paying guest accommodations,” shares Dr Sharma, who himself studied in Kota in 2005 while clearing the All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT), which is now known as NEET. He adds that such people can counsel students showing signs of depression. Providing psychological services to needy students must be prioritized, adds Dr Sharma.
Mental health assessments can help identify stressed students
Kumar, an alumnus of IIT Delhi, started Peakmind to address the mental health concerns of the student community. “In the last three years, we have worked with more than 42,000 students across India and saved 59 lives through suicide prevention measures. More than one lakh counseling conversations were carried out,” says Kumar.
Shedding light on the current scenario, Kumar says, “Students are constantly battling expectations — both their parents’ and their own. In addition, inter-personal relationships become a problem during the adolescent age, too.” He explains that mental health assessments can help address any upcoming issues. In such a scenario, parents need to learn to become a support system and not another cause of stress.
He stresses that students need cognitive strength, coping skills and regular mental health assessments while gearing up for competition.
How can parents mentor kids without adding to the stress?
Chaitra Gowda, mother of a teenager from Bangalore, highlights that children today face steep competition. “My son, who was academically oriented since childhood, was keen on trying for JEE, though we didn’t have such aims ourselves as parents,” she recalls. Her son got through a deemed university in Rajasthan in mid-2023. She emphasizes that while preparing for the exams was stressful, it only increased when the teen didn’t get his preferred branch of computer science engineering and had to opt for mechanical engineering. While he was willing to drop a year to prepare better, his parents did not want him to endure the rat race for another year. She supported her son immensely in keeping his cool and her husband counseled the upset teen, who cheered up after entering his university campus.
Kumar highlights that a stable parent-child relationship is the biggest pillar of strength, especially for students preparing for a crucial exam. He encourages parents to build it with care.
Takeaways
Amidst the spate of suicides in Kota, the education hub of Rajasthan, concerns are pouring over the stress borne by students. The Rajasthan government has invited suggestions from the public to deal with the situation and has banned exams for the next two months. According to experts, parental support, regular assessment of mental health and providing strategic help in studies can help the students to overcome anxiety.
Toll-free helpline number
Get help in times of emotional turmoil. Call the Government of India’s mental health care service Tele Manas at 14416 or 1-8008914416
