Suicides by students who go to the Kota Coaching Factory have caught national attention. The deaths hit 25 in 2023 up from 15 in 2022, 10 in 2021, 20 in 2018 and 18 in 2015.

As a Chartered Accountant (CA) the question that struck me was, in CA students fail again and again, yet one not heard of them committing suicide?

Take my own case. I qualified in January 1985, a good 38 years ago. Then, we had to clear Intermediate (Inter) exams first. I failed Inter exams twice. The first time, told parents it was normal since many bright kids failed. The second time I failed, parents and Boss were worried. They wondered if I was serious. Friends began to avoid me. Those in the building who were doing C.A. said I would never clear, should give up C.A. and become a clerk in a nationalised bank. Taunts were the norm.

I was all of 21 then. It was the first time faced failure. My doctor parents wondered whose genes I had because they and siblings had outstanding academic scores.

It was not me alone. A close friend gave only one paper Costing (Final CA) six times. It was common to see people in their 30s and 40s at the examination hall. Pass percentages in Final C.A. then was less than 5 percent (today about 10%), so large number of students failed.

I had to be thick-skinned, reinvent myself and study harder. But suicide was unthinkable.

How do Kota Coaching (Kota) and CA education (CA) work? A reading also explains why CA students do not commit suicide.

Students from primarily North, Central India go to Kota for JEE (IIT) and NEET (Medicine) coaching. They pay and join institute, have to find hostel or paying guest accommodation. Age of joining is between 16 and 18. It is a one year course, all work and no play, post which are entrance exams.

The seats in IIT/Medical are limited due to reservations and supply constraints. So if Kota students fail entrance exams it is seen to be the end of the world, esp. when parents spend money on coaching.

Pune based Psychologist, Happiness Coach and Mother of XII grader Garima says, “The value of a child’s life is measured with the myopic metric of the marks they obtain in the most recent test. Leaving behind every hobby, interest, and support system, they enter the Kota cage. Entire families are known to turn their lives upside down to “support” the child preparing at Kota. Wives move away from their husbands to live with their child in Kota; younger siblings have to deal with separation from their mothers, who are supporting the older one’s preparations.”

A Kota based Professor who is not connected with coaching and feels strongly about children suicides, says, “The kind of social set up we have is the root cause and parents the most gullible and misinformed. As ignorant people they send their children through this traumatizing experience, overlooking their capabilities or lack of it!  Out in the world for the first time there are the usual social issues of romantic involvement, aggression issues, that may take them up the crime way.  Lack of resources, poor diet, no time for physical activity and counselors etc add to their stress.”

Conversely, CA students start in their second year of graduation or on completing graduation.

A large number of students from smaller towns go to Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata to work with a Chartered Accountancy firm. They stay in a hostel or as paying guests. Students can walk in and get registered for C.A. even though there is no guarantee one would qualify. There is no restriction on number of seats or reservation.  

Working hours at CA firm are 10 am onwards. Spare time is used to study for weekend and Inter exams. Students do not to pay fees to C.A. firm. Instead they get a stipend. They visit client office for audit, which could be in any part of city or outskirts thus get on the job training and work exposure at a young age. One gets to meet different type of people.   

Since Mumbai attracts a large number of students from Rajasthan, the Marwari community have made a hostel for students (boys and girls) Rajasthan Vidyarthi Graha Andheri, (RVG Educational Foundation). Their hostel also conducts professional talks and celebrates festivals together. This way there is bonding, homely feeling and less competitive spirit.

CA exams are every six months while JEE/NEET are once a year.

What is common?

In both cases students come mostly from middle class or lower middle class backgrounds. Both get only Sunday as a holiday. In Kota students only study whilst CA students work and study. There is no guarantee that a CA student will become a CA on completion of three years of training just as not every Kota student cracks JEE/NEET.

However, in public perception the media build up on JEE/NEET is as if they are do or die exams whilst in CA failure is accepted as normal. In fact, it is jokingly said that CA means Come Again.

Some differences!

In Kota the pressure on students to perform well in entrance tests and exams is very high. If the parent has taken a loan to pay for institute fees and child stay, the pressure on child to succeed is higher. CA students do not need to take loans but the risk of failure is high and success known only at the end of atleast three years so lots of uncertainty till one qualifies.

Even if a student does not become a C.A. he/she could get a job. In case of failure, Kota students have to decide career options.

Kota makes students competitive while there is more bonding between C.A. students.

Tanuj Solanki wrote in the Indian Express, “A state of anxiety, a cut-throat-y ethic, and a model in which the future always stood on a butchered present — these were the values Kota imparted.” A perusal of websites of some coaching classes indicates they have opened branches in other parts of India. It is imperative that parents need counselling. They need to realize there are professions beyond engineering and medicine where their children can be financially successful so they must restrain from over pressurising kids.

When a 16-18 year old child is under so much of pressure, devoid of family support and aware of sacrifice by family, criticism, a few loose comments or obsessive negative thoughts is what it takes to end life.  

Some suggestions 

1. Coaching class must mandatorily include a one hour class of Yoga every week and 30 minutes of some form of exercise/relaxation daily.  

2. A weekly Meditation class.

3. Talks on Spirituality for e.g. teachings of the Bhagavad Gita in a contemporary format.

3. General talks by experienced corporate professionals with focus on working life post education and what it takes to succeed.

4. Talks on alternate career options for those who do not get through JEE/NEET.

5. Coaching Institutes must establish trusts that run hostels like RVG does in Mumbai – giving back to society.

6. Parents must stop applying too much pressure on students as if success is a do or die situation.

7. Talks on how to accept failure.

8. Success is important but being fanatical about it is not.

9. The day I joined Hindustan Levers as a trainee, the HR Head told me that my CA degree was a passport to enter the premises, success or failure would not depend on my academic score but on attitude, ability to innovate and motivate teams etc.

10. Government should focus, which it seems is happening, on increasing the number of medical colleges and IITs.

11. Garima adds, “Start a national scholarship application platform that every student of grade X across India fills. It should capture their family’s annual income, town of schooling and residence. Trusts offering grants, scholarships or endowments should have access to this database. Based on certain criteria, this application should automatically qualify needy students to avail cheap loans or scholarships to pay for education at pricier private colleges. This will remove the pressure to get into a government college and massively enlarge the number of seats they compete for, in actual practice.”     

In life BALANCE is key, be it at 16 or 60.