How the Kota cookie crumbled due to Covid

Jaipur

The Covid onslaught has taken its toll on the coaching hub of the country in Kota. Hardly 10-15 per cent students had stayed back and the entire set up is on the verge of a collapse. Around one lakh people engaged directly or indirectly due to the coaching hub have lost their livelihood. The estimated worth of the edu hub was pegged around Rs 1200 crore before Covid which has now reduced to nearly one-fourth of its value.

Kota was an industrial city of Rajasthan, but for the last four decades it has turned out to be a premier coaching centre of the country. Aspiring students who dream of getting admitted to premium technical and medical institutes of the country, come here to prepare themselves. Around 1.50 lakh students from all over the country register themselves at various institutes. But now the town wears a desolate look.

Kota’s 70 per cent economy depends on these students who spend around Rs 2 to 2.50 lakh rupees per annum. There are around 3,000 hostels, more than 25,000 PGs, 1,800 mess and a large number of cafes, tiffin centres, breakfast stalls and other businesses with students at the epicentre. Some residents of the city have converted their homes into hostels and PGs and the coaching industry covers three big areas of the city.

"It is like a nightmare for us when hundreds and thousands of students left Kota in fear and haste. The city’s economy has crumbled. Hardly 10 % hostels and PGs have students. Around 80 per cent employees working in these hostels have lost their jobs and we are facing huge difficulty in repaying our loans," said Naveen Mittal, president of Kota hostel association.

Around 80 per cent mess which provided food to students have rolled down their shutters. The president of the Mess Association of Kota Jashmesh Sing said, "thousands of people are now unemployed and have migrated to their home towns. We cannot run a mess for 4-5 students, so most of them have down their shutters."

The hope of revival lasts for two months only

Almost 90 per cent students had left Kota last year during the first wave. Different states had run special buses and trains to take away their students from the city. This January we saw some hopes of revival. Around 45000 students had come to Kota in the first two months of 2021 when admission were on at the coaching institutes and people here were hoping for a good "harvest." But their hopes lasted only two months. The second wave was more horrifying and students had to leave as offline classes and other facilities were shut due to the lockdown imposed in April. The lockdown has been relaxed a bit, but offline classes have not resumed yet.

Online mode has kept us afloat

There 10 mega, 50 small and individual coaching institutes in Kota. After being mauled by covid-19, the online mode of education has kept the business alive and afloat. One of the representatives of the institutes said on condition of anonymity that admissions have decreased but they are charging for online classes and at the same time their expenses of running offline classes have reduced considerably.

It will take around two years to get back on track

"We are hoping for better times. Students also aren't comfortable with online classes. I have talked to many students and they want offline classes to resume. We are urging the state government to reopen the institutes but it will take around two years for us to get back on track," said Naveen Mittal.

source https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/how-the-kota-cookie-crumbled-due-to-covid