Kota administration to organise youth fest to bust exam stress

In Rajasthan's Kota, the country's biggest hub for engineering and medical entrance coaching, the administration is gearing up to help students in going through the stress and anxiety during the upcoming examination season. To keep things light for the students, the district administration will be organising a mega youth festival on February 1 and 2, which is expected to be attended by around 2 lakh coaching students.

The city administration started taking special initiatives to help the students after many incidents of suicides were reported here. Kota Carnival (KOKA), conceptualised by District Collector Om Kesera, is a stress-busting amusement platform for the students offering them an opportunity to show their talents.

Kesera said the event has been designed to keep the students stress-free in an amusing environment. Sunday evening, try-outs were held at Rangmanch in Deshurra Maidan for selecting the finalists in different competitions of the grand finale, including singing and dancing and comedy, he said.

Students in large numbers participated in the trials, named as Prelim KOKA, and the audience was enthralled by their performances, Kesera said. While some of them recited poems on topics ranging from social evils to the bravery of the soldiers, others played guitar and piano. The students also performed comedy and mimicry, he said.

Besides representatives from various coaching institutes in the city, Kota Divisional Commissioner L N Soni, Superintendent of Police Deepak Bhargav and other senior officials were also present during the event. Kesera said the preparations are underway for the main event in February and a few stars from entertainment industry -- Manav Chabra, Shivani Kaplia, Roshan Bharti, Roje Khan, Karan Singh, Ambika Misra and Alok -- have been roped in to be the judges in the talent competitions.

According to the city police records, 17 students committed suicide in 2015 and 16 more in 2016. The number student suicides declined to 7 in 2017 but again shot up to 19 in 2018.

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