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Seventeen year old Kriti Tripathi jumped off a five-storey building today, becoming the fifth student to commit suicide in Kota this year. A native of Ghaziabad, Tripathi was staying with her father in the same building she jumped off from. She succumbed to her injuries before doctors at the local MBS Hospital could attempt to revive her.

The IIT-JEE (mains) result was declared on Thursday, April 28 in which Tripathi had secured 144 marks. The fact that she beat the cut-off by 44 marks but still decided to end her life has evoked conflicting explanations. While the police haven’t revealed the contents of her suicide note, the local SP has stated that “prima facie, the cause of suicide seems like depression and disinterest in engineering studies.” Other reports, however, are claiming that Tripathi was “disappointed” with her score, based on statements made by the Station House Officer (SHO) of Jawaharnagar police station in Kota.

It is worrisome that Tripathi is the fifth student to commit suicide in the last four months in Kota, which is the hub of coaching institutes students rush to in the hope of cracking  engineering college entrance exams. In 2015, the number of student suicides was at least 18, and certain reports indicate the number may be as high as 24. Taking both numbers into consideration, a suicide rate of 1.5-2 students per month is a major wake-up call for parents, coaching institutes and government authorities.

Thankfully, some changes have been introduced to tackle the problem. In November, 2015 Kota Collector Ravikumar Surpur directed all coaching institutes to provide psychiatric consultations, a mandatory one-day break each week, and career counselling to students. Also, the Rajasthan High Court issued a notice to the state and district authorities in January, 2016, to look into the matter of student suicides and come up with ways to prevent them. Despite these actions, the number of suicides has hardly been stemmed this year, as Kriti Tripathi’s tragic death shows.