Let me start by congratulating the JEE topper Mridul Agarwal, who has broken all the records set by all the toppers to date. He created history by achieving the highest-ever percentile in the IIT entrance test. He scored 348 marks (96%).
All the coaching institutes have gone into a frenzy claiming he has been coaching with them. One young lad attending multiple coaching classes just to clear this competitive exam? How can he be present physically at more than one institute? How can he be studying the same subjects at so many locations? It’s beyond me. But the advertisements display it otherwise. Every institute claims or rather screams, he has been training with them, with all of them! (Check out the picture attached at the bottom of the blog)
This young boy seems to be on a different kind of trip, hopping from one institute to another. I’m not sure whether physically, seems more materialistically. Hope you understand what I’m hinting at.
The coaching institutes are known to pay a huge sum of money to such toppers to appear in their promotions, claiming the topper is coached by them. And then here we are watching the same guy’s picture on the front page of every leading daily, but every time with a different institute!
The target audience for these full-page advertisements are the parents, as no child today picks up the newspaper to read. Where does the money for placing full front-page advertisements in leading newspapers come from? I guess we all know the answer, of course from looting the poor parents.
It is the parents here in India who are used to sending their child for coaching right from a very small age (read kindergarten), and this streak continues well beyond they finish their professional courses.
It’s a crazy circus out there, with coaching institutes claiming to make your child an Einstein or a Newton. All you need to do is cough up a HUGE fee and make your child a ROBOT following their instructions to the T!
It is extremely disheartening to read day in day out the news of these stressed teenagers committing suicide, just because their competitive exams didn’t go well, the fear and anxiety of not being able to make it kills them. I’m sure many of you have read about the suicides committed by the students in Kota, Rajasthan, and the most recent suicides in Chennai, Tamilnadu.
I fail to understand when will the parents stop putting their child through all this stress, and at what cost! It would be great if children are given a chance to learn on their own, explore the joy of studying at their own pace. They do not need to be spoon-fed at every stage of their life, or rather should I say from cradle to grave. All they need is proper guidance and counseling to deal with their issues effectively. Sound and positive mental health should be the priority here.
Unfortunately, in India education is nothing but the marks your child scores, it’s a matter of pride to boast about your child’s scores. This makes the child just a token of the parent’s pride! All this craziness has led to the mushrooming of coaching classes left, right, and center. They are the ones benefiting the most, and at whose cost?
We’re losing bright children to this rat race, who could otherwise explore vocations of their choice. We complain of not having enough participants from our country at various global level games like the Olympics. But have we allowed our children to follow their dreams of becoming a sportsperson, an artist, a writer, a dancer?
Teenagers are already going through so many changes- physical, emotional, and psychological. They are still adjusting to all the new emotions and the havoc created by the raging hormones. Do they need to go through more stress? Are they capable of bearing more than they can handle at such a sensitive and delicate stage of their life?
Parents, just are there for them, spend quality time with them, teach them the right virtues of living a healthy life. In no time they’ll fly away from your nest, leaving it empty, make the most of your time together. Do not make them the scapegoat of your desires, to fulfill your unfulfilled dreams.
Mridul says his role model is Sundar Pichai.
Ask Sundar Pichai, did he go through this circus of coaching classes to be where he is today? I don’t think so… back in the day, this kind of system did not exist. I’m sure it is his sheer hard work and determination that has got him the position of CEO. I’m sure his journey was a different one, to be on this path today.
Dear readers,
My heart goes out to these children who are coerced into the fields they do not want to be in, it goes out to the kids who are made to run from one coaching to another, it goes out to the innocent souls whose dreams are crushed even before they take form.
Parents can stop this kind of mindless act for the greater good of their beloved children.
Do let me know your views in the comments section.
Thank you readers
One boy, attending numerous institutes!
