Kota ASP Chandrasheel Thakur told PTI, “We have started the ‘Darwaje Pe Dastak’ campaign through which we encourage hostel wardens to check every student’s room regularly at around 11 pm. Knock on their doors and ask if they are okay. Keep an eye on their movements and make sure they don’t show signs of stress, depression or unusual behavior, so the warden should be the first to look for signs of abnormality.
Every year 2.5 lakh students come to Kota to prepare for competitive exams like the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) for engineering admissions and the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) for medical college admissions. So far this year, the highest number of 22 students have committed suicide here, of which two students committed suicide within just a few hours on August 27. Last year 15 students committed suicide. Hectic schedules, stiff competition, constant pressure to perform, heavy parental expectations and distance from home are what most students who come from other cities and other parts of the country face to study here.
Psychologists have been warning that before any child takes such a step there are always signs that are not recognized in time. He said, “The aim of this campaign is to detect these early signs (of depression). If a student is frequently skipping class or not eating food, something must be wrong. We want to identify these children, counsel them before they reach the brink of taking extreme measures. We have started a dedicated number on which wardens, mess workers and tiffin providers can give us this information.
Kota Hostel Association president Naveen Mittal said the city has 3,500 hostels and 25,000 paying guests (PG). Garima Singh, warden of Amritangali Girls’ Residency, said she regularly knocks on the girls’ doors. “It’s not meant to harass them, but to find out if they’re OK,” he said. If someone is sleeping for an unusual amount of time, I discuss with them whether they are tired or unwell. I also check his mess logbook. If someone didn’t eat the food in the bowl, I ask if they didn’t like the food or it was because of some stress.
In view of the recent incidents of suicides, the district administration has asked coaching institutes to stop regular screening tests for students preparing for NEET and other competitive exams for the next two months. Boys hostel warden Gagendra Soni said, “Some boys prefer tiffin service instead of mess food. We sometimes see tiffin lying outside the room. Now we take it very seriously and try to communicate with the kids.
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