DNA Exclusive: Dominance of coaching centres and children’s dependence on them in today’s education system

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday (April 7) held a ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’ session in which he gave valuable advice to the students preparing for exams, their parents as well as the teachers.

About 10 lakh students, 2 lakh teachers, and 92 thousand parents participated in the online session. PM Modi gave advice to the students on how to overcome their fear of exams and how to perform well in them.

While the students have a lot to gain from PM Modi’s mantras, there is an important issue that needs to be discussed, that is, the dominance of coaching centres in today’s education system and how children have become dependent on it.

Zee News Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary on Wednesday’s edition of DNA talked about the various aspects of this critical issue.

There has recently been a big deal between the largest online education company BYJU’S and Aakash Educational Institute. Under this, BYJU’S has bought the Akash Institute for one billion dollars i.e. about seven and a half thousand crores rupees. This price is more than the total net worth of companies like E-commerce company Nykaa and Lenskart.

It can be understood from this deal how massive the private coaching market has become.

In a country that has 1.5 million government and private schools, one thousand universities and more than 33 thousand playschools, the private coaching companies have become so big that they have left many other big companies behind.

The education culture in India has changed into “coaching culture”.

What is the reason behind this?

Students nowadays take expensive tuitions for two to three hours every day after studying in school for different subjects. Parents believe that if their children do not take additional coaching, they will fail.

According to a study, children in India start taking tuitions from the age of 4 years. That is, since childhood, the “tuition formula” is seated in their minds. They are told that if they do not take tuitions, they will be left behind.

By 8th grade, they become habitual of tuitions. This is where the expansion of the private coaching industry begins.

First, you pay the school fees, then the tuition fees and in this way you spend 12 percent of your total earnings on the education of your children. Students take tuitions to clear various competitive entrance exams. Even to obtain a clerical job, students depend on coaching classes.

Today tuition studies have become more powerful than studies in schools and colleges. And this power is like a money printing machine for many companies.

One out of every four children in India is dependent on tuitions. About 7 crore children take private tuitions in our country. A child spends 9 hours a week taking tuition classes. In simple words, this time is equivalent to staying in school for one and a half days.

One of the main reasons for this issue is that there is a shortage of teachers in schools. In September 2020, it was informed in the Lok Sabha that 17 percent of the posts of teachers are lying vacant in government schools in India. It comes to 10 lakh 6 thousand in numbers.

Today those who study B.Ed consider tuition centers to be a better option than teaching in schools, and the reason is that they are not paid well enough at schools.

So what is the solution?

Unless we change our education system and improve the standard of education in schools, we cannot overcome this challenge. Students need to be encouraged to not be dependent on private coaching. The quality of teachers in schools must be improved. Until all of this doesn’t happen, the culture of coaching will continue to dominate the culture of education.

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