Looking at the suicides of the coaching students, the Collector of Kota has launched a weekly 'Dinner with Collector' programme under the 'Kamyab Kota' campaign. The campaign is aimed to reach out to the students and start direct dialogue with them.
'Dinner with Collector'
The collector and District Magistrate Dr Ravinder Goswami is an MBBS and a former coaching student from the town had launched the programme last month. Under the 'Dinner with Collector', he takes dinner with the students in a hostel every Friday to listen to their minds and hearts.
On Friday, Collector Dr Ravindra Goswami reached Vasanti Residency located in the Indraprastha Industrial Area. Here he spent about 2 hours with the children and also talked to them on various issues.
During this, the student asked the collector – What would he do if he did not clear NEET? To this, the Collector replied – Life closes one path and opens another.
"Have faith in your doings"
The collector said to the students that they were not there to take the wrong steps while sitting in a small room. 'Have faith in your doings. You will get the results, if not today then tomorrow. You're not meant to make a few missteps in suffocated small rooms. My appeal to you is to identify yourself. You have come to do great work, Don't consider this path as the destination, the destination is somewhere else and is waiting for you, ' said the DM.
During the interaction, Goswami, an IAS officer of the 2016 batch, told the students, "Why create self-doubt?"
Recounting his own experience as a student in Kota years back, the collector said he never got his name and number in the test series during two years of his preparation in Kota for the entrance exam for admission to medical college. But he never got worried, he said and added that he avoided creating self-doubt.
He told them to identify their strong as well as weak points
"God opens several doors, so why create self-doubt?" he told the students.
Sharing their concerns about studies and preparation for competitive exams at the dinner, he told them to identify their strong as well as weak points and to improve the weak ones. It was the second programme of its kind, the first being on January 26, which was the 75th Republic Day.
The Collector explained the philosophies of life while having dinner with the students in the hostel. Also appealed not to be disheartened by failure. He gave solutions to the questions and doubts of the students.
Students asked him how to study if they didn't feel like it. How to remove negativity. How to control fatigue and nervousness? What to do if you ever feel disappointed or feel that you are not able to live up to the expectations of your parents? The Collector listened carefully to the questions of each student and answered them with ease. After this, he also sang the song 'Aa Chal Ke Tujhe, Main Le Ke Chalun Ek Aise Gagan Ke Tale...' with the children.
Suicides in Kota
Notably, two coaching students and a 27-year-old BTech student committed suicide by hanging last month. Twenty-six coaching students allegedly committed suicide in Kota in 2023, the highest figure so far in the city, where over two lakh students come from all parts of the country every year for preparation of entrance exams for admission in medical and engineering colleges.
There are about 4500 hostels and 40,000 PG accommodations for these coaching students in the city.
