Dinner with Collector: Kota DM's weekly program to relieve the stress of coaching students
The hustle and bustle of Kota continues to witness a disturbing trend of suicides among medical students. Kota DM launches 'Dinner with Collector' to reduce the stress of coaching students.
Kota: To relieve the stress experienced by coaching students Kotathe subdistrict court judge has come up with a unique initiative. District Magistrate Dr. Ravinder Goswami has a weekly 'Dinner with collector'program under the'Kamyab Kota' campaign. Goswami, himself an MBBS and former coaching student from the city, started the program last month in view of the rising number of suicides due to coaching students, mainly attributed to stress related to studies.
Kota DM launches 'Dinner with Collector' to reduce the stress of coaching students
According to the news agency PTI report Under the 'Dinner with Collector', he dines with the students in a hostel every Friday to listen to their minds and hearts. Earlier on February 1, the district magistrate interacted with the students of a hostel in Indraprastha area. He sang Bollywood songs with the students, shared success mantras and motivated them.
Kota student suicide
The hustle and bustle of Kota continues to witness a disturbing trend of suicides among medical students. With increasing cut-throat competition, academic pressure, fast-paced curriculum and program structure, the suicide rate has increased significantly. Notably, two coaching students and a 27-year-old BTech student committed suicide by hanging last month. Twenty-six coaching students are said to have committed suicide in Kota in 2023, the highest to date in the city, where more than two lakh students from all parts of the country come every year for preparation of entrance exams for admission to medical and engineering colleges. There are around 4500 hostels and 40,000 PG accommodations for these coaching students in the city.
Identify both your strengths and weaknesses: District Magistrate Dr. Ravinder Goswami
During the last interaction, Goswami, an IAS officer of the 2016 batch, told the students, “Why create self-doubt?” During dinner, he shared their concerns about studies and preparation for exams and told them to identify both their strengths and weaknesses and improve on the weaknesses. It was the second program of its kind, the first taking place on January 26, the 75th Republic Day.
Self-doubt and fear within certain limits are good: IAS officer
To a question from a student, Kripa, about exam anxiety, Goswami added, “Self-doubt and fear within certain limits are good because they activate your sympathetic nervous system, making you go into fight and flight mode. But don't take fear to the extreme level. From flight mode you reach fight mode,” PTI reported. “Keep the fear to a certain limit and take a deep breath when you feel your hands shaking,” the collector advised, referring to a conversation between Lord Krishna and Arjun in Bhagwad Geeta.
Recounting his own experience as a student in Kota years ago, the collector said he never got his name and number in the test series during the two years he spent preparing for the entrance exam for medical college admission in Kota. But he never worried, he said, adding that he avoided creating self-doubt. “God opens different doors, so why create self-doubt?” he said to the students. During the dinner, Goswami, while holding a microphone, sang the old Hindi song 'Aa chal ke tujhe, main le ke chalun ek aise gagan ke taley'. The coaching students also sang along with him. During the first event of 'Dinner with Collector', Goswami dined coaching students at a hostel in Landmark City district and provided tips for success. The collector sang the same song with the accompanying students and cut a cake on the occasion of Republic Day.
(With inputs from PTI)