‘Fun Day’ helps de-stress students in Kota

After a spurt in student suicides in Kota, institutes in India’s coaching capital have started many initiatives to de-stress students. The Kota District Administration recently issued a number of guidelines to reduce pressure amongst the coaching students in the city. As part of these initiatives, the institutes have started observing ‘Fun Days’ on campuses across the city.

About 1.25 lakh students from across the country come to Kota every year for coaching of Engineering & Medical entrance exams. Recently, the city has been hurt by a spate of student suicides due to stress and pressures of the studies.

Dr. Ravi Kumar Surpur, Collector of Kota District, instructed the institutes to organize recreational activities after the suicide of a student, Sumer Ram, from Nagaur (Rajasthan), last week. The Kota District Administration came up with the initiative of organizing these ‘Fun Days’ at the institutes, during which the concept of ‘All Fun and No Play’ concept would be followed for the students’ recreation. Modules like drawing and painting, dance, song & music performances, jokes, and other recreational activities were included in the ‘Fun Day’ celebrated on December 26, 2015, across all the major institutes in the city.

Students were surprised when their teachers arrived in traditional and casual attire instead of uniform. Both students and teachers performed songs, dances, mimicry, cracked jokes and performed other recreational activities.

Brajesh Maheshwari, director, Allen Career Institute, said that nearly 77,000 students and 2,000 faculty members of Allen participated in the activities, meditation, and fun games. “Over 50,000 drawing sheets and colour boxes were distributed among students, along with chocolates and sweets,” he said. To spread the message of happiness and hope, and to release stress, 50 experienced members of the Art of Living foundation taught meditation to the Allen students across classes.

According to Rohit Roshan from Patna, “The meditation activities released us from pressure. Now, I will be able to focus better on my studies.” Pallavi Kumari, a student from Jharkhand, said that they got new energy after participating in the activities. Aarti Sharma, another student, said that they were happier as they never expected to have this much fun in class, when they saw their teachers performing gags.

Pramod Maheshwari, CMD, Career Point Institute, said that their institute organized such fun activities regularly, but the students enjoyed the ‘Fun Day’ as well.

Dr. Surpur informed that the emphasis of the ‘Fun Day’ drive was to promote recreational activities among students to de-stress them. “The District Administration will ensure that such activities are conducted regularly by the institutes while we follow-up on the execution of the guidelines,” he said. “Not just ‘Fun Day’, other activities like trekking in forests, movie screenings, meditation etc. are also planned,” he continued.

During the drawing and painting activities, students wrote messages to their fellow students as well. Rahul, from Mandi Dablani, wrote, “Keep calm and stay ahead. Don’t let your studies overshadow your zeal for life.” Ratan Kumar, from Samastipur, wrote, “Don’t lose hope even if you lag behind in one exam. Only those who try their best to live, live.”