India, March 31 -- An 18-year-old student who had been living in Kota for the last two years to prepare for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for admission to engineering colleges died by suicide on Sunday night, hours before his father was to reach the coaching hub in Rajasthan to accompany him to Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh where he had to appear for the entrance exam on April 2.

His father told reporters that they were aware about students in Kota having to deal with extreme stress, and would ask him about it. But he never told them anything about it. "I was coming (to Kota) to take him today. But he might have thought this step was easier than speaking to me," the father said.

Monday's death takes the number of suicides by JEE or NE...