Even as suicides by students receiving coaching for competitive examinations in Kota continue to take place with alarming frequency, the has put on the back burner a Bill it had drafted to minimise student suicides and regulate the coaching institutes.
As many as five students have committed suicide in Kota last month, taking the figure so far this year to nine, and the total tally to 36 since the Congress government came to power in the state in December 2018. Examination-related Stress has been largely the reason behind the suicides.
The state government had promised in its election manifesto in 2018 a law to regulate coaching institutes and minimise student suicides, and the first draft of theRajasthanCoaching Institute (Regulation and Control) Bill, 2023, was released in January this year. But the draft faced objections from a section of lawmakers, especially to provisions in it like compulsory Aptitude tests, a limited number of students in classrooms, financial penalties, and no glorification of toppers in advertisements and media reports.
The draft Bill was prepared in 2021 by a high-powered team of academicians, who have been side-lined from the review process even as the Bill moves at snail’s pace through the corridors of power.