Education should be for life, not livelihood.
Education - teaching in particular - is considered to be one of the most sacred professions. A teacher is said to be on the same strata as parents. Today we are witnessing gross commercialisation of education. Here I am going to assess and analyse this ’situation’. I will keep the Public Schools issue aside and rather concentrate on a more grave and important issue -
Coaching Institutions
The well-known Scenario-
The great Indian Middle Class has always wanted their kids to become Engineers and Doctors. And this desire, inspite of the various alternative, vocational courses available today, has been hard to shed. Today we have entrance examinations for almost every professional course.
Combine this with the population and what you have is intense competition observed by students and parents alike. Smart people have cashed in on this and coaching institutes have cropped up like mushrooms in the wild. These institutes are very well publicised. Parents, desperately wanting their child not to miss out, end up falling into the trap.
So far, so good, but problem starts when these institutes fail to keep the bar high. Every one of them indulges in flashy publicity. Not all of them are sub-standard, yes, but trust me when I say that about 9 out of every 10 are not good. You might ask my definition of ’sub-standard’. By that I mean copied subject material (from others, various books etc), incomplete teaching of the syllabus, inefficient test series, teaching standards.
For the uninitiated, these things might seem far-fetched but they are as true and prevalent as it gets. What follow are failed attempts at entrances, frustration and wasted money (Remember that these institutions demand high fees - after all you are guaranteed a job after your degree, right?). One can read sad stories of students in some MS reviews.
An Afterthought
As far as the moral responsibility of the coaching institutes is considered, you can spend hours on end thinking and debating, but the bottom line is, These institutes were never created for Paropkaar (self-less help). So don’t hope they will. What they are after is well-known. If they can offer good services in return, well and good. If they can’t......choice is yours.
The not-so-well-known solution.
Most importantly, students and Parents should be able to read between the lines in those ads. For example, when in an advertisement, a coaching institute says -
’’250 selections in CBSE PMT 2004.’’ (Flashy photos of smiling, successful students included)
does the institute tell you how many of their students attempted the exam? Most likely, the answer will be no. If yes, calculate the success ratio. It’ll give you a criteria for comparison with other institutes. Remember that the second-attempters also contribute to this number.
Many institutes carry out ’’All India Test Series - Which will give you an idea of your standing in the country’’. Remember that ’All India’ refers to all the branches of only that particular institute. It doesn’t matter if these branches are 1 or 100 in strength.
Analyse the track record of that specific branch where you are about to get you son/daughter enrolled. For example some of the good and reputed JEE coaching institutes of Kota have branches in various other cities which never even come close to the main Kota branches in terms of results. Ask if that branch is directly controlled one or a mere franchisee. Usually such things are written in fine-print on the websites. If it is a directly owned one, then analyse its own track record. If it isn’t, don’t even think about it. It is an independent institute with an easily recognisable name.
Never confuse between names like - ’Career Point’ and ’Career Institute’. Absolutely nothing in common here.
Before taking admission, always visit the campus at least once. Usually, there are gulfs between what is offered and what you get.
And after you have done all this and more and taken admission,
If you are a student, study hard.
If you are a parent, pray hard!
Hope I helped in any way.
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