“Students have become slaves of coaching institutes. They are being taught only to face competitive exams. Coaching institutions are promoting rote learning and not imparting actual knowledge”, said Prakash Javadekar when he was the HRD Minister and working on a revision of the National Education Policy of 2014. The remark is unforgettable and has to be recalled today when we are considering the draft of the new policy released for public comments and views. 

This strong statement against coaching institutes that have grown as parallel educational centers throughout the country reflects feelings expressed by many educationists. It is also conveyed clearly in the Draft Education Policy. The Policy holds the existing coaching centers as “harmful” for children and wants to end what it calls the “coaching culture” by resetting the pattern and purpose of education.

It says: “The present examination and present coaching culture are doing much harm especially at the secondary school level, replacing valuable time for true learning with the excessive examination, coaching and preparation”.

The issue pertains to two major aspects of coaching centres – the reason for their growth and popularity and the state of coaching institutes. The first is related to the quality of teaching and learning in formal educational institutions and their types of equipment and surroundings, and the second to the state of coaching centres and the way they are organised and conducted.

The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) reports that one out of every four students is taking private tuition (25 %) in the country and in a couple of States, the percentage jumps to over three out of four (75%). Tripura and West Bengal in the eastern part of the country have recorded 81 percent and 78 percent enrolment of students in private coaching classes. Incidentally, it may be noted that coaching culture has been well established in many East Asian countries including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea before it spread all over the world to grow as a “multi-billion dollar global service-industry”  offering various coaching services outside schools.

Beyond schools, 20 percent at graduation level and 15 percent at post-graduation level are availing private tuition in the country. West Bengal, Tripura, Bihar, Odisha, and Manipur are the top five States patronizing private coaching away from regular schools.

The draft recognises severe learning incapacity prevailing  in  student community  across the country  and emphasises the need to focus on building a firm foundation for reading and arithmetic from class I. Poor education standards, particularly in rural students pointed out in various survey reports year after year stand in sharp contrast to the brilliant performance of elite institutions and shatter the hope of bridging the huge educational gap in society and achieving equality through universal  education. One-fourth of the students are found unable to read texts even in their own language fluently and nearly 60 percent are not able to do simple sums in arithmetic. The situation will nullify the benefits of Reservation Policy and Right to Education unless immediate measures are taken to maintain quality while expanding opportunities and concessions.

Coaching centers, known as the “shadow education system” in some places are growing in number due to two divergent causes. One is to make up for the shortcomings of regular school teaching to prepare them to take annual school examinations and Board examinations. Another is to prepare bright students to keep their rank and score and help them to remain on top to be sure of admissions to their chosen courses.  

The system has far-reaching implications for the organization and process of formal schooling, for the very objective of “education for all”, and for the future of students of all economic classes. At the same time, out-of-school coaching makes a dent on the family budget which has to be accepted by parents as unavoidable costs in the pursuit of a bright future for their wards.

The chief characteristics of the coaching centers are their supplementary role to formal institutions, private management and operation, and limitation to academic subjects to cater to the grades in the formal system of education or to the syllabus of particular admission or competitive examination. The preparation they provide is purely examination-oriented as the education system in India is built around written tests. 

Music and dance classes, teaching artistic skills, training in sports or yoga, learning classical languages for self-development and self-satisfaction do not come under coaching centers dealt with in the Draft policy.

The Supreme Court while dealing with a PIL on the growth of “unrecognized” private coaching companies in the country in February this year stated that the private coaching centers need to be regulated as these cannot be wiped out, and asked the Union government to frame guidelines. What cannot be eliminated altogether must undergo necessary reforms. 

In any case, there is no substance in the wholesale rejection of all coaching classes as bad in the idea and harmful to student interests. Where reforms and regulations are required, a constructive approach must be adopted.

Odisha is the first State in India to introduce the Odisha Coaching Institutes Act 2017, which seeks to regulate their operation. Mandatory registration of the centres, with respective district collector’s office, and submission of details regarding the strength of students, qualifications of teachers, curriculum, etc.,   are prescribed. Bihar has also similar regulations. The Government of Maharashtra set up a panel of experts to draft rules to govern over 50,000 coaching centres operating in the State.

Kota in Rajasthan is said to be the epicenter of coaching culture having thousands of institutes. Their annual turnover is estimated to exceed Rs.1,500 crore.

The draft policy prepared by the Kasturirangan Committee states that the system of Board exams for 10^th and 12^th classes leads to stress and promotes coaching culture. It suggests incorporating a flexible system spread over four years between classes 9 and 12 and students may be allowed to take exams in various subjects as per their convenience.

Changes in the present assessment pattern, which gives exclusive importance to the examination system, are recommended to shift towards testing only the “understanding of core concepts and knowledge along with higher order capabilities such as creative thinking, analysis and applications throughout the education system and in all subjects, and in all tests in schools and colleges, admissions, or employment.

The emphasis on the educational aspect of examination in the place of a race for marks, grades, and rank will introduce a world of difference to students mechanically memorising guidebooks and notes and frantically practising the art of reproducing verbatim what they are told. Examination reform will   drastically reduce dependence on coaching classes. It will alter the coaching culture altogether and convert coaching classes as a valuable supplement to formal education to promote “true education”. 

Consequently, the coaching centres operating as industrial-commercial houses will automatically change their objective and mode of coaching. Many of them may vanish without closure order.   The physical conditions of coaching centres, which have come under severe criticism after the tragedy that took place in Surat, will also improve once there is no need to pack students in any kind of token shelter to tutor them to answer expected questions.