‘Knee-Jerk’ Reaction: Can Rajasthan’s New Coaching Centre Bill Curb Kota Suicides? Here’s What Experts Say – News18

Last Updated:March 21, 2025, 11:22 IST

The bill aims to regulate the unchecked growth of coaching centres and fix accountability by mandating registration for centres with over 50 students.

Can the new Rajasthan Coaching Centres (Control and Regulation) Bill-2025, tabled by the state government, prevent or significantly reduce the number of student suicides in Kota? News18 spoke to experts to understand how the new legislation, if passed, could help address the mental health crisis in the education hub.

Calling the bill “knee-jerk” and “reactionary”, experts said that while there is a need to regulate coaching centres, the provisions must cater to different types of centres and prevent big players from exploiting the rules.

Around two lakh students enrol in coaching institutes in Kota each year, primarily for NEET (medical college entry) and JEE (top engineering colleges like IITs). Most of these students are young, enrolling from class 11 or even class 9, while attending dummy schools as an alternative to regular schooling.

The bill aims to regulate the unchecked growth of coaching centres and fix accountability by mandating registration for centres with over 50 students. It lays down standards, including infrastructure requirements, for registration. Provisions include a fee refund policy, penalties of Rs 5 lakh for non-compliance, cancellation of registration, and bans on misleading advertisements and class segregation based on performance. It proposes setting up a regulatory authority to ensure compliance. The bill was tabled in the state assembly on Wednesday.

The bill was drafted in response to central government guidelines issued in January 2024 for the registration and regulation of coaching centres, which included a ban on admitting students below 16 and mandatory aptitude tests before enrolment. These guidelines were circulated to all state governments.

The Rajasthan government tabled a revised bill on Wednesday, omitting the age limit and aptitude test provisions from the central guidelines and the draft bill it prepared in October 2024.

The bill is yet to be discussed for approval in the state assembly on Friday.

If passed, this bill will be the first in India to regulate coaching centres, spurred by ongoing student suicides in Kota. Post-pandemic, 27 students enrolled in Kota coaching institutes died by suicide in 2023. This number fell to 17 in 2024, but six students have already died by suicide in the first three months of this year.

A Supply-Demand Gap

Keshav Agarwal, president of the Coaching Federation of India, said mandatory registration, a fee refund policy, and a ban on misleading advertisements are welcome steps. “However, the bill addresses only a small part of the problem. Removing the age limit and aptitude test provisions has diluted it,” Agarwal said.

Agarwal said the primary cause of student suicides is the supply-demand gap. Suicides are highest among NEET students due to the limited seats in government colleges, with few able to afford private medical colleges. For around 1 lakh seats in government colleges, 24 lakh students appear for NEET, he said. Similarly, there are only around 17,000 seats in IITs, he added. If the government increases seats through public-private partnerships and regulates private college fees, the number of suicides will decrease, said Agarwal.

Coaching centres supply a service for which there is high demand, which schools cannot meet. “Even the best schools struggle to prepare students for competitive exams due to the education structure. The gap between class 10 and class 11 material is too wide, especially in subjects like mathematics, physics, and chemistry, making it difficult for many students to cope. When such students go to Kota, they cannot sustain the pressure,” he said.

‘Need to Test Aptitude Back at School’

The segregation, he said, should occur at the school level from class 9 for those wishing to pursue science and maths. An aptitude test should guide students on their path. Additionally, career counseling should start in class 9 to familiarise students with different streams, Agarwal said. For example, no one studies commerce before class 11, so students need to understand what they will study in the coming years, he said.

Real measures at the school level are necessary to prevent suicides. Besides, parents should have realistic expectations, Agarwal said.

The bill’s provisions could eliminate smaller coaching centres. Small centres may not afford hefty fines, cafeterias, and other infrastructural conditions required for registration. This might force them to operate illegally, defeating the bill’s purpose, as many students cannot afford big institutes.

‘Need to Create More Alternatives’

Vivek Thakur, managing director of Scholars Den, said the bill appears reactionary rather than addressing the urgent need to regulate coaching institutes responsibly.

“The bill is drafted with impractical objectives and lacks clear direction and intent. Suicides result from a lack of career options, not intrinsic flaws in the coaching system,” Thakur said. The suicide rate is highest among NEET (UG) aspirants due to limited alternatives and unaffordable medical education when students fail to secure government college seats, said Thakur, an IIT-Kharagpur alumnus.

Furthermore, he added, coaching is not limited to Kota or IIT and NEET preparation only. It includes various dimensions, from Sainik School entrance preparations to Commercial Pilot Licence exam coaching and from board exams to civil services exams coaching. Any law aiming to cover the entire spectrum but focusing on two competitive exams and one coaching hub will be a mere formality, said Thakur.