I have a Solution that will reduce pressure on IIT aspirants but do not know how to get this across to HRD Minister of India. Suggestions are welcome. - Ram Krishnaswamy

Search This Blog

Monday, December 12, 2016

Now, A Booklet Of Filmy Dialogues To Curb Suicidal Tendencies In IIT Coaching Hub Kota - Scoop Whoop

Dec 11, 2016 at 12:29
by PTI

To release stress and keep the suicidal tendencies of coaching students in check, district collector Ravi Kumar Surpur has come up with an interesting and humorous 20-page booklet titled 'Why This Kolaveri Di'.

The booklet authored by Sachin Jha in assistance with clinical psychologists contains fun reading, graphics, famous quotes and catchy one-liners from the popular lip-twisting dialogues of Bollywood movies to boost the confidence of students.
'Why This Kolaveri Di' addresses its readers as 'Dost' and has different quotes for every gloomy emotion.

To shrug off the home sickness feeling, the booklet has a positive one-liner - 'Come on! You are going home'.
The middle section of the booklet, where the author brings quotes from ancient Indian philosopher Chanakya, deals with the core issue of distress and fear among the coaching students.
To shake off the fear of defeat and failure, the book has a philosophical dialogue from the movie Sultan - 'Koi jab tak tumhe hara nahi sakta, jab tak tum khud se na haar manlo'.
The booklet, which was launched by district collector Kumar yesterday at Tagore Hall, also educates by creating a sensibility among the students and to lead a well-disciplined life.

            Representational image. Source: Twitter

Underlining the significance of 'sleep' for the students, the booklet says that "they would not be able to think well if they do not sleep well."

It also promotes awareness about various issues related to changes in our body.

Taking a note on 'gender distraction' it says that it is a common tendency among the teenagers and illustrates the gender magnetism through cartoons of girl and boy from the movie 'Hum Tum' asking the students to "chill it" as it is just a normal hormonal change and advises them "do not allow your hormones to hijack your intelligence".

The booklet touched an very important point asking the students to seek help from siblings, teachers, parents, friends, relatives and doctors if they find them unable to cope with the pressure and study stress.

It asks the students to consider parents as well wishers because they motivate them for their "own good".

         Representational image. Source: Twitter

The unconventional and motivational booklet is an another initiative like the previous measures by district collector Kumar to check the suicidal tendencies among the coaching students.
Earlier on the onset of current academic secession, Kumar had written an emotional letter to the parents of coaching students asking them "not to burden down the kids with their ambitions and dreams."

"The booklet 'Why This Kolaveri Di' has no copyright and any coaching institute can publish it and circulate it among its students," said the district collector.

He also added that the digital format of the same book is underway.

At least 17 coaching students have committed suicide so far this year since January.

Kota is the main centre for coaching institutes where students come to prepare for entrance tests of IIT and medical colleges.





Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Coaching institution’s print advertisement claims Kota to be the ‘Suicide Capital of India’ - Financial Express


In a bizarre advertisement published at the front page of an English daily, Kota, a hub of coaching centers for the engineering and medical entrance examinations, was described as the 'Suicide Capital of India'.

By: FE Online | New Delhi | Updated: December 4, 2016 12:25 PM


The print ad claimed that unethical institutions, most of which are in Kota, “purchase results, poach brilliant students and their results do not reflect their capabilities.”

In a bizarre advertisement published at the front page of an English daily, Kota, a hub of coaching centers for the engineering and medical entrance examinations, was described as the ‘Suicide Capital of India’. The advertisement of ‘FITZEE Talent Reward Exam’ had further claimed ‘This is Kalyug’ and unethical practices had emerged in every sectors of the country including educational institutions.

The advertisement promoting coaching institution, Forum for Indian Institute of Technology and Joint Entrance Examination (FITZEE), in its ad printed at the front page of Hindustan Times mentioned, “Whole world is passing through unprecedented corruption, exploitation & sleaze. In every activity we find mafia like people & institutions. Education is no exception.”

The print ad also claimed that unethical institutions, most of which are in Kota, “purchase results, poach brilliant students and their results do not reflect their capabilities.”

Blaming institutions Kota for driving students to commit suicide, in its advertisement FITZEE urged parents to not ‘compromise on Value System’.


At least one and a half lakh students of the country, ever year, comes to Kota to take coaching for engineering and medical entrance examinations. Following reports of student suicide in Kota, citing study pressure or depression, recently, several institutions in the coaching hub had launched 24 hours helpline to offer counselling to students and also track callers suffering from depression and provide them with assistance.


In the most recent incident of student suicide in Kota, a body of a 16-year-old was found from the Chambal River on November 24. The student from Muzaffarpur district of Bihar was undertaking coaching, to crack the IIT entrance examination, at Kota.

Depressed over low marks, medical aspirant commits suicide in Kota - Deccan Chronicle

PTI
Published
Dec 1, 2016, 3:48 pm IST

17-year-old Mahima Yadav was found hanging from a ceiling fan at her room in the morning around 7.30 AM.

Representational image

Kota: A 17-year-old girl who was taking coaching at an institute in Kota for National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) to get a medical seat allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself at her room in RK Puram area today.

The medical aspirant who hailed from Raiwadi area in Haryana was taking coaching at a premier coaching institute in Kota for about an year.

She was found hanging from a ceiling fan at her room in the morning around 7.30 AM, police said, adding she was living with her mother and brother at the rented accommodation.
Her mother had gone out to drop her brother at school at the time of incident, said Sub Inspector Kamal Singh.

The deceased girl identified as Mahima Yadav was a class XI student and was reportedly depressed over low scoring in routine tests in the institute.

"No suicide note was recovered from the room. However, the girl was reportedly depressed over her low score in the routine tests," Singh said.

The body was sent for the postmortem and further investigation into the matter is underway.

Despite constant efforts by district administration and coaching institute managements to check suicide by the students, at least 15 have taken the extreme step since January this year. This incident has taken the toll to 16 so far.

The district administration has also asked the coaching institutes to conduct screening tests for the students seeking admissions in the institutes and to give their parents an assessment of their ward's chances of cracking the entrance exams of prestigious IIT and medical colleges.

Around 1.75 lakh students from across the country arrive at Kota every year for admission in coaching institutes to prepare for entrance exams to these colleges.

Notebandi, bewafa Sonam test even IIT students in exams -

Isha Jain | TNN | Updated: Dec 1, 2016, 06.44 AM IST

A professor of IIT-Guwahati incorporated ‘Sonam Gupta bewafa hai’ meme in a question paper on probability.

LUCKNOW: Demonestisation has now reached the examination halls at Indian Institute of Technology. While at IIT-Delhi, a humanities professor put up a question on the effect of demonetisation on the suicide rate in India, a professor of IIT-Guwahati incorporated 'Sonam Gupta bewafa hai' meme in probability question paper. 

The sociology question paper of IIT-Delhi, TOI has a copy of it, sought answers from students on the effect of demonetised high value currency notes on the suicide rate in India. Would the suicide go up or down due to demonetisation? The compulsory 10-mark question also asked the context in which Durkheim's (French philosopher) suicide theory discussed such events and will the demonetisation be different in rural or urban areas or for different classes.

Prof Ravinder Kaur, head of humanities and social sciences department at IIT-Delhi, said, "In social sciences (and humanities), we often try to illustrate and explicate theoretical concepts and ideas by relating them with contemporary events and happenings. Students engage more with what we are teaching when they realise it has some usefulness for understanding what is happening around them. Also, such questions make students learn how to think logically and creatively and not simply reproduce what has been taught in class or given in a book or a theory."

She added, "I am sure, the same is done in many science and engineering courses—Narmada dam would be a good example for civil engineers, smog for atmospheric sciences students and others."

A student told TOI: "It is fascinating to write on an issue the entire nation—in fact, other countries too—are talking about.

The question could have been simply put up by asking Durkheim's suicide theory but linking it with demonetisation was a creative way to present. The answers will be worth looking at.''

Giving a dash of humour to the end semester, a professor in the department of electronics and electrical engineering at IIT-Guwahati used the 'Sonam Gupta bewafai hai' meme, which took the internet by storm, to ask a question in probablity course. The question asked to determine if a person 'x' is bewafa, what is the probablity that Sonam Gupta is bewafa given a dependence structure between variables where all variables are binary and their high values mean the following: G means gender of 'x' is female (~G means the opposite), S means biological parents of 'x' are strict with her, W means x is wealthy, A means x is attractive, L means x has lots of options, B means x is bewafa, C means at least one other person y claims that the person x is bewafa.




Using further information given on the question paper, students were asked to draw a Bayesian network and convert it into a factor graph. The question which when shared on Facebook by an IIT-Guwahati student received over 150 shares and 600 likes. "The response is overwhelming. We all love the professor for making the question so exciting. It has spread to other IITs widely been commented up on,'' said he, without wanting to be named.