Written By:Pulkit Sood (B.Tech, GNDU, Punjab)
In India many coaching institutes do not care about the success of students, they only care about their own profit though there are some genuine coachings too but many of them are just wasting the precious time of students. Every year over three lakh students move to Kota (Rajasthan) for chasing their dreams of IIT,JEE and NEET . In Mukherjee Nagar (Delhi) streets are covered with coachings of the government exams like UPSC and SSC etc. Students pay 1.5 to 2 lakh fees per year and even more.
From this some questions might come in your mind that, Why not every coaching is provided itself in the schools ? Are schools not enough? Are parents fool who are spending their hard earned money at these institutions? Let me tell you the reality. Do you know what is the selection ratio IIT ? That is only 0.7% to 1.2%. Similarly the selection ratio in UPSC and SSC is less than 1 percent. That is why when a student sees that the teacher at the respective school is not able to solve the questions of the competitive exams then he/she runs for the coaching centers. The owners of these coaching centers also hire experienced faculties by paying the exact price asked. Due to this the students are forced to get admissions into these coaching centers.
Do you know the practice of dummy admissions (taking admission in a school but not attending regularly instead going to the coaching center) is banned in India but then also masses are taking dummy admissions. It is not the fault of students. It is the fault of the system. Why administrative authorities are unable to strictly enforce this rule , it is also essential to identify the reasons and why proper things are not taught to the students in the school itself? Why career counseling is not done in the schools itself? Why student after arriving home, opens online resources to learn? No one tells students to acquire real life skills . Youth is wasting their 20s instead of exploring the world . I have seen aspirants who have wasted years for the preparation of these competitive exams but are still not able to crack them. If someone somehow cracks an exam by his/her own efforts then these coaching institutes will do advertisements and try to claim that he/she studied from them so that they can attract the masses and many students fall into this trap. Many even pay the rankers so that they can do advertisement. Some institutes even showcase the success stories of top rankers on giant billboards who have cleared the exams 10 to 20 years ago after studying from them.
In The Bhagawad Geeta it is written that offering knowledge is greater than material sacrifice. But it is shocking to see that in many coaching centers even after paying 1.5 to 2 lakh approximately per year they teach bare minimum. The fees is non-refundable so that the student cannot exit the course before completion. This should not be done as the student is already under pressure. It is surprising that the government has even granted recognition for classes 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th to such coaching centers, thereby giving them further opportunities to fleece people. There is no doubt that in the years following decline of Gurukul system, private education in country has given children new wings; however, who is responsible for the exploitation of their parents? It could also be argued that the government’s flawed education policies are largely to blame for this situation.
If coaching institutes are truly committed to educating India’s youth , a simple question arises that how many of them are willing to teach the children of maids, street hawkers, garbage collectors ,daily wage workers and other economically weaker families free of cost.
Today many coaching institutes claim that they understand the pattern of competitive exams. They analyze PYQ’S(Pervious year questions); identifying important topics which are most likely to be appear in the exam. But what about the students of poor families? Many talented students can not afford high coaching fees. They have to de dependent on their own self prep. This creates an unfair situation where success is not determined only by hard work and talent but also a family’s financial condition. The growing coaching industries have created a divide between rich and poor students. Education should be a tool for equal opportunity, not a privilege available only to those who can pay high fees. The coaching mafia have strong political and administrative connections so if a person tries to speak against them they shut their mouth by paying them the asked amount so that is why u will see that there are very less articles on this issue.
What is the result?
☛ Huge profit to the coaching centers.
☛ Parents sell land and also take loans .
☛ Students are depressed by seeing pathetic financial condition of their parents
☛ Constant comparison of a student with a ranker makes him/her pressurized.
☛ Students become anxious and get struck into the loop of over thinking.
☛ Many of the students commit suicide by coming under pressure.
☛ Students are being made number machines . They are not bothered about understanding their syllabus and just cramming things.
Until quality education and proper guidance are available to each and every student , the debate about coaching mafia will continue.
No one talks about the ones who failed in an entrance . Failure should not be treated shameful instead should be taken as a positive criticism. Young people need to understand that life offers many opportunities. Failing an entrance exam does not mean that a person is a failure . It simply means that one chapter of their life story did not go as planned . A single setback does not mean that one can not do anything is his/her life. What really matters is bouncing back and drive into new opportunities.
I want to give you one example of a government school near Clock tower in my home town Hoshiarpur, where from a long time they are providing extra classes to the students who are weak in studies in the school itself. If like this all the government and private schools starts providing good content then this coaching mafia can be stopped .
Nowadays some teachers are teaching on the online platforms where the fees is affordable so that they can reach to huge masses , it is good that there are some teachers who really care about the students and really want to help them but the reality is when a student learns online he faces too much difficulty as the doubt solving is barely done. If the doubts are not discussed on time, the concepts will not be crystal clear and ultimately the student will not be able to succeed. If somehow doubt solving is done then 1v1 interaction is must between the student and the respective teacher which is not done that is why many students leaning online lose consistency. I am not saying online leaning is bad and the student learning online do not get good score but the top ranks are produced only in offline and you know that how much expensive offline coaching is.
—My suggestions would be :-
- Loopholes in the board exams should be fixed. It is seen many times that student performing well in an board exam perform terribly in the entrance exams. This is because there is huge difference in the level of board exams and entrance exams.
- Strict actions should be taken on dummy schools.
- The preparation should be done in the school itself or government agencies like NTA,UPSC etc. should provide the list of mentors and centers who can teach properly.
- Study should be affordable so that every student coming from any section of the society can enroll.
- Career counseling should be done in the schools itself.
- Students should get out of the number game. Students should understand that only getting good ranks and marks will not reflect their intelligence instead in depth understanding of respective subject will give them fruitful result in life.
- A student’s worth should never be measured only by marks or exam results by the parents because success in life depends on many qualities and skills.
- There should be done certain changes in the reservation system as well.
- For the equality, the level of syllabus and infrastructure in every school should be same. I know it is very difficult task for Govt. to do but this certainly has to be done.
- “One nation one syllabus” policy should be implemented on priority basis.
- For the students having interest in sports, sports school should be opened separately. There should be no pressure of studies on the student interested in sports because it is not necessary that every child is all rounder he/she might be good in studies and vice versa.
- For the students who are interested in the technical fields should be made to study in a particular school where they only learn about their interested subject.
- The student will get out of the number when we will give respect to all the work force either he/she is in Govt. or private sector because is we need Doctors and Engineers then we also need sweeper, peon, clerk and many more who are pillars of our system.
There are many more flaws in the education system for which not only the Govt. has to work upon but also the society has to.
