Record student suicides rock Kota: Wardens, hostel staff to undergo professional training
KOTA: Wardens and staff members of hostels in Kota will be given professional training in mess management, psychological and behavioural counselling, and other aspects of students’ care to equip them to battle the rising number of suicides by aspirants in the coaching hub.
The move comes in the wake of a record number of suicides this year by students preparing for engineering and medical entrance exams.
Three hostel associations in Kota — Chambal Hostel Association, Coral Hostel Association and Kota Hostels Association — have signed an MoU with the Jai Minesh Tribal University here to design special Hostel Management certificate courses for the wardens and staff.
Over 2.5 lakh students move to Kota annually to prepare for competitive exams such as the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) for engineering and the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to medical colleges.
Kota Hostel Association President Naveen Mittal said there are 3,500 hostels in the coaching hub.
This year has seen the highest number of student suicides — 23 so far — with two ending their lives in a gap of a few hours on August 27 and the latest one being on Wednesday. Last year, the number was 15.
Talking about the training programme, Mittal said: “Desperate times call for desperate measures. This has been long due. Hostels employ anybody and everybody for these jobs and they are not trained enough to deal with students. These courses will train them in professionally dealing with students and keeping a check on early signs of stress and depression in any student.”
The courses are being planned for a six-month duration with a fee of Rs 8,000.
“We are encouraging hostel owners to foot this cost for their staff so the fees are not a deterrent. The wardens should know when to act soft when to act strict, and how to efficiently communicate with parents and students..sometimes they complain about students with good intentions and students feel stressed..sometimes the food served is not good..all these issues can be resolved with proper training,” he added.
The university has asked the hostel associations to conduct a survey within a week about the number of employees in hostels across the coaching hub and their roles —mess worker, housekeeping, warden, and security guard, among others.
“Depending upon the figures, we will design the courses. We are working with the hostel associations to figure out how these courses can be imparted and practical training delivered without impacting their routine jobs. Some of the hostels have informed that their wardens work 10-12 hours and are unable to find time,” RD Meena, Chairperson, Jai Minesh Tribal University said.
“We are figuring out if the academic part can be covered in the hostel area by forming batches. The modalities are still being worked out,” he added.
With the record spike in suicide cases, the administration has taken several steps including mandating installation of an anti-hanging device in fans and ordering coaching institutes to not take any exam for two months.
The anti-hanging device installation was encouraged by the Kota Hostel Association in 2017 and was finally mandated by the district administration this year.
