An 18-year-old Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) aspirant reportedly hanged herself at her home in Kota, Rajasthan, on Monday. She left a suicide note, apologising to her parents for not being able to “do JEE”.
“Mummy, papa I can't do JEE. So I suicide,” the note in English said, according to police. In the suicide note found in her room, she called herself a “loser”. "I am loser. I am worst daughter. Sorry mummy papa. Yahi last option he (This is the last option),” the note read.
She was to give the JEE test in a day or two, news agency PTI reported.
The girl's grandmother knocked at the door of her room around 10 am, PTI reported. When there was no response, she raised an alarm. The family found her hanging from the ventilation window above the door.
According to PTI, the girl, who was preparing for the JEE, lived at her family home in Shiv Vihar Colony in the city’s Borekheda police station area. The student was the eldest of three sisters.
“Her father is a security guard at a private bank in Kota,” the official said. The family hails from Akawdakhurd village in Jhalawar district and has been staying in the city for the last three years.
ALSO READ: 'Affair', 'parental pressure' reasons for student suicide in Kota, says Rajasthan minister
The 18-year-old student was supposed to take her JEE test on January 30 or 31, circle officer DSP Dharmveer Singh was quoted by PTI as saying. "The suicide note suggested she was under the stress of studies and found herself unable to tackle the exam," the officer said.
The student's cousin said she was under severe stress over the upcoming JEE test. “She had to repeat her 12th class exam because she got a low score,” the relative told reporters outside the mortuary.
However, according to the cousin, she was good at studies and devoted seven or eight hours every day to them.
This was the second suspected suicide in Kota, said to be the coaching hub, in less than a week. On January 23, 19-year-old Mohammed Zaid was found hanging in his hostel room in Kota.
He had come to the city from Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad a year back to prepare for the medical entrance exam NEET. No suicide note was found in that case.
According to PTI, last year, 26 students allegedly died by suicide in Kota, where children come from across the country to prepare for competitive tests like the JEE for admission to top colleges.
In the wake of these incidents, Rajasthan minister Jawahar Singh Bedham said, “A large number of students living in Kota need counselling, and for that, we are planning to bring in thinkers and philosophers. I would like to also appeal to the students not to take study as a burden."
Meanwhile, the 18-year-old girl was found dead about an hour before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's “Pariksha pe Charcha” interaction in Delhi began.
Interacting with students, parents and teachers during his annual "Pariksha Pe Charcha" programme, PM Modi cautioned parents against treating their children's report cards as their own visiting cards.
PM Modi asserted that it is crucial to instill resilience in children to help them cope with pressures and parents and teachers should collectively address the challenges faced by them. He said competition acts as inspiration but it should be healthy.
"A lot of parents keep giving examples of other children to their children. Parents should avoid doing these things," he said.
(With inputs from agencies)
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