Yoga, zumba classes, mental wellness in focus as student suicides shake Kota's 'factory settings'
Kota (Rajasthan) (PTI): From Yoga sessions and zumba classes to 24X7 helplines and mental wellness workshops, coaching institutes in Kota say they take multiple steps to help students tackle the anxiety of preparing for competitive exams.
The coaching hub is back in focus after three students died last week -- two of them were found hanging at their hostel rooms, and the third one allegedly consumed a poisonous substance.
Prominent coaching institute Allen, which currently has over 1.5 lakh students in its various medical (NEET) and engineering (JEE) entrance preparatory courses, runs special programmes such as "Tum Hoge Kamyab" (you will succeed) and "Wings of Wisdom", besides regular yoga sessions and zumba classes, for the mental wellbeing of its students.
"We have a dedicated helpline which works round the clock and over 50 concerned calls from students or parents are addressed daily through it," said Dr Harish Sharma, Principal Counsellor and Student-Behaviour Expert at Allen.
"For every 10 students we have a supervising student who is called a buddy. The job of the buddy is to keep a check on the mental health of the group and inform the teachers if there are any symptoms or signs like someone is not eating properly for a few days, not coming out of room or attending classes or not talking to his or her parents," he told PTI.
He said professional counsellors available at the institute are roped in once the teachers have an idea that any student is going through some difficulties.
"However, in certain cases where we realise that mere counselling will not help and the child needs proper treatment, we inform the parents to take the child with them for sometime and work on their mental health," he added.
The coaching behemoth also organises counselling sessions for parents to sensitise them about how to keep in touch with their child, without creating any pressure on them.
"It is a very thin line," Sharma said. "If parents do not keep in touch with their wards, it's obvious they will not notice any change in their behaviour and will not know when their child needs help. On the other hand, if parents keep in constant touch, they often add to the burden and stress of students by reminding them of their struggles in sending the child to Kota or add the burden of their expectations."
Typically, for students the day begins as early as 5.30 am with their first classes at 7 am. Coaching institutes have put in place a mechanism to let parents know if their child has attended the class.
As soon students leave their hostel, they are supposed to mark an 'exit' using the biometric attendance system which automatically sends a message to the parents that the child is out of their accommodation. A similar message is sent to parents when the child enters the coaching institute.
At Resonance, another prominent coaching institution, every student has a mentor to help him or her deal with academic and non-academic issues.
"We encourage students to not only discuss their academic concerns but also non-academic issues which are causing stress or anxiety. Yoga sessions and concentration exercises are also among the activities that are encouraged among the students," said RK Agarwal, the institute's Managing Director and Academic Head.
Notwithstanding such measures, students sometimes get trapped in the cycle of depression with multiple factor contributing to it.
According to police and district administration records, at least 14 students studying in coaching centres in the city committed suicide this year. No student suicide was reported in 2021 when the coaching centres here were shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic and students attended online classes from their homes.
The number stood at 18 in 2019 and 20 in 2020.
Of the three students who died last week, NEET aspirant Ankush Anand (18) from and JEE aspirant Ujjwal Kumar (17) -- both from Bihar -- were found hanging from ceiling fans in their respective rooms at their paying guest (PG) accommodation on December 12, according to police.
The third student, Pranav Verma (17), a NEET aspirant from Madhya Pradesh, allegedly consumed a poisonous substance in his hostel on December 11.
In the current year, a record 2 lakh students are enrolled and studying in various coaching institutions in Kota.
Naveen Mittal, the President of Kota Hostel Association, said similar measures are in place at the hostels too to help students cope with stress and anxiety.
"Since each student lives in a single room accommodation to help them study better, it is not possible for the peers to always keep a check manually but we ensure that wardens regularly talk to the students," he said.
"Special fun zones have been created in the hostels for students' recreation. Meditation sessions are also regularly conducted," he said.
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EC dismisses scope for wrongdoing at strongrooms; prohibitory orders around Kolkata counting centres
Kolkata (PTI): A day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee spent hours at the EVM strongroom of her Bhabanipur constituency alleging possibilities of malpractices, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal on Friday asserted there is no scope for wrongdoing at the counting centres.
Following tensions around two counting centres in Kolkata late on Thursday, police clamped prohibitory orders on gatherings outside all seven strongrooms in the city.
Stating that round-the-clock CCTV monitoring of strongrooms was in place, Agarwal dismissed the allegations as "baseless".
TMC spokesperson and Beleghata constituency candidate Kunal Ghosh said that party workers and poll aspirants were keeping a strict vigil at the counting centres, where the EVMs are stored in strongrooms, upon directions of party supremo Mamata Banerjee.
"There is no scope for any wrongdoing given the arrangements made to secure the EVMs. The Centres have been kept under thorough CCTV coverage and their live-streamed footage can be seen from outside," Agarwal told reporters.
"One should have reason and evidence for making allegations," he said, maintaining that there were no grounds for levelling charges of EVM tampering or pre-counting malpractice.
Two counting centres in Kolkata witnessed high drama late on Thursday evening after TMC leaders alleged a lack of transparency and possible malpractice at the strongrooms housing sealed EVMs of the assembly polls, which concluded on April 29.
Mamata Banerjee herself landed up at the Sakhawat Memorial School counting centre and stayed put there for about four hours. She emerged from the premises past midnight and warned against any attempts to tamper with the counting process, demanding greater transparency.
TMC leaders and candidates Sashi Panja and Kunal Ghosh held a sit-in outside the Khudiram Anushilan Kendra counting centre on Thursday evening, alleging unauthorised activities inside the strongroom amid the absence of TMC agents.
Matters came to a head after a large number of supporters from both TMC and BJP camps gathered outside the venue, shouting slogans till they were dispersed by security forces.
The EC, however, dismissed the claim, clarifying that poll officials were engaged in the task of segregating postal ballots as per due process and the strongrooms remained secure, asserting all political parties for the mandatory segregation activity were duly notified.
On Friday, Kolkata Police imposed prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the BNSS around all seven designated strong rooms in the city.
As per the order issued by Police Commissioner Ajay Nand, the restrictions prohibited the assembly of five or more persons within a 200-metre radius of each strongroom, along with a ban on processions, demonstrations, and carrying of weapons or explosive materials.
The measure, which aims to prevent any breach of peace, violence, or disturbance during the storage of ballot papers and polled EVMs, will remain in force until the commencement of counting on May 4.
Besides the two counting centres in question, the prohibitory orders were also clamped around the Hastings House complex, APC Polytechnic College, St. Thomas Boys' High School, Ballygunge Government High School and the David Hare Training College counting premises.
A senior police officer said enhanced security arrangements have been made at Khudiram Anushilan Kendra, the counting centre for several assembly seats in north and east Kolkata housing EVM strong rooms.
"Additional CAPFs and armed police forces have also been deployed under the supervision of an additional commissioner and a deputy commissioner of police," Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Kolkata, Rupesh Kumar, told reporters after visiting the area.
Expressing apprehension that unauthorised movements might occur when a section of postal ballots is brought in the evening, Kunal Ghosh said on Friday morning that the party's polling agents and candidates have been alerted about the matter.
Minister Shashi Panja, who also arrived at Khudiram Anushilan Kendra in the morning, maintained that "transparency" should be ensured for all strongroom activities.
Ghosh told reporters on Friday that though they had seen some movement in a strongroom that allegedly stored postal ballots, there was no such movement on Friday morning.
Meanwhile, Banerjee's challenger at Bhabanipur and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari took a dig at the chief minister for her late-night visit to the counting centre.
"I want to reassure the people of Bhabanipur and of West Bengal that the TMC candidate and outgoing chief minister was prevented from taking any additional advantage. Despite her best intentions to the contrary, she wasn't allowed to act in violation of rules," Adhikari wrote on social media platforms, posting a picture of Banerjee sitting at what appeared to be an area outside the counting centre strong room.
"Till such time she was present there, my election agent, advocate Surjyanil Das personally positioned himself at the spot keeping a tight watch on her so that she isn't able to take recourse to improper means," he added.
Security forces kept a strict vigil in and around counting centres and strongrooms in Kolkata and other districts where EVM machines used in the state assembly elections are stored, an official said.
Sakhawat Memorial School in south Kolkata's Bhabanipur, which saw high drama till the early hours of Friday with the chief minister spending several hours at the counting centre, wore a peaceful look in the morning with security personnel guarding the area.
