Ever since her independence, India’s education sector is an aspect which has seen ever rising exponential growth, regardless of the several ruling governments. At every step, it was realised that the essence to growth of the country is in empowering its citizens to basic education facilities whilst heavily investing in the establishment of world class institutes which would provide tough competition to their international counterparts. The successful establishment of the IIT’s and IIM’s is the most classical example of our nation’s worldwide competitive stint. Their excellence has given way to setting up of NIT’s , Govt. colleges and several other universities , all being of national importance which have fairly been successful in their mission to provide quality education. Several prominent private universities have cropped up all throughout the country, competing neck to neck with the government establishments. This has provided a wider scope in education and has taken our educational standards to a much higher level.
In the past decade and a half, a major chunk of our education sector has prominently been represented by coaching and training institutes. Most of these institutes are dedicated to providing coaching for competitive examinations for engineering, medical and management entrance examinations. They generally run a 1or 2 year long duration program for the candidate’s preparation. The number of such institutes has spread out vastly in various parts of the country with different institutes coming up.
However, these institutes are being brought under screening, especially regarding the authenticity of their results. Sandipan Deb , author of ‘The IItians’, and IIT kharagpur alumni feels that these institutes are converting our education into business. “ When I got into IIT, there were no coaching classes available and self preparation for an year was more than enough to sail through the exam. The cropping up of several coaching centres has vastly pressurized the students to a state where several of them start preparations as early as class 7. This is a very unhealthy environment being created where institutes are simply minting money leaving the students aghast.” Rightly said, several students miss out on leisure activities in their prime while constantly preparing for these examinations. Most of these classes have started early batches for students of junior classes to provide them with a firm base for their preparation, an age, when the student isn’t even sure whether it is the career they would like to pursue.
Another major concern about these classes is their authenticity. All top notch institutes display such exorbitant results which become increasingly hard to believe for an aspirant. Most claim having helped students achieve top ranks. Many students’ profiles and ranks can be seen on the hoardings ,banners and media advertisements of these classes which clearly busts the claim to be a farce. By such false claims, they attract more raising eyebrows, leaving many students’ careers in rough waters.
Even after so many accusations and doubts, it is seemingly impossible for an aspirant to avoid these classes. Most of these centres are providing students with highly experienced faculties who help them undergo a rigorous training process for excelling in the main examination. The students are provided with faculty compiled study material and several daily practice assignments which help in enhancing the student’s performance. The students also participate in various all India tests organized by these institutes which help in measuring the candidate’s growth. With such exclusive attention being given to individuals, it becomes evident that self study will not be able to compete with the coaching and facilities provided by the institutes.
Recently , it was revealed, that a few coaching classes in prominent coaching centres as that in Kota, Rajasthan , have established ties with a few schools in the city . Their aim is to let the student attend the coaching classes in his daily schedule and simply appear for the school examinations on specific days. The institutes also teach these students their regular prescribed curriculum alongside preparing rigidly for the national level entrance examinations. This may help in easing the pressure off the students as earlier they were caught up in between their regular school studies and coaching classes.
These classes are growing rapidly in numbers,and will continue to, but amongst the hustle bustle of top ranks and promising careers, the essence of their prime goal should be to continue providing excellence to the young aspiring minds of our country and guide them on their path to success.