Coaching Factories: Is Hyderabad going the “KOTA” way ?

Kota, a beautiful city on the banks of River Chambal is synonymous to its coaching centres. The industry which is responsible for the high revenues accrued by the small city every year, prepares lakhs of students for coveted positions in India’s top medical and engineering institutions. With an annual revenue of Rs.3,500 crores, the industry is the backbone of the city’s economy. In fact even our Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi went on to declare the city as the “ New Kashi of Education”.

However, recently the industry has observed a drastic fall in the student population. The city has observed a 30-40 percent drop in the number of students, which is quite significant as the students basically run the economy of the city. This has raised a sense of serious concern among the different stakeholders with different reasons being put forth. Reasons like high number of suicides with stricter regulations for admitting students under the newly introduced Guidelines for registration and regulation of coaching Centres, 2024 are cited for these statistics.

These centres have been proliferating at the expense of the expectations and desires of students for quite some time. The drive for success among students is quite evident, which can be observed from every nook and cranny, as there are some students who are as young as 13 pushed into the web of tedious curriculum and extensive pressure. These centres and their respective entrance examinations are often seen as a means to better life, which is why they tend to push themselves in ways that are too overwhelming.  Quite naturally, the city is also known as the most stressed city in India, as the city is plagued with high statistics of student suicides.

The rise of new coaching hubs:

Inspite of these incidents, the coaching institutes are mushrooming all around the nation. The culture of coaching centres has also started expanding to other cities, with even rural cities witnessing a significant rise in their numbers. These institutes are mostly linked with schools and junior colleges and concentrate on fields like IIT JEE,  NEET and UPSC entrance examinations. Cities like Patna’s Musallahpur Haat and Guwahati are some of the new additions to this list.

As a result, Hyderabad has also become an entrant  in the flourishing market and is turning out to be a hub of coaching institutions. Till the 2000’s the city was the centre of UPSC coaching for the entire Southern belt and continues to flourish even today. In 2017 Hyderabad surpassed Kota in the IIT JEE entrance examinations. In fact, Hyderabad based JEE coaching centres with centres in other states, claim that they are responsible for contributing nearly 25,000 students in the IIT pool every year.

Certain regions like Ameerpet are also witnessing a rampant rise in coaching centres. These centres in Ameerpet specifically focus on “upskilling and reskilling”, which prioritize the industry requirements. Their primary focus is on securing jobs in corporates which is why they are also known as “Kota for professionals”

 The Dark side of the coaching culture:

These coaching centres are a mandate for anyone who wants to crack such entrance examinations. Pushing for the age-old methods of rote learning and deteriorating the state of India’s education system,  these centres are a hotspot for revenue. They are leading the creation of mini education capitals in different parts of the city, while their commercialized nature continues to affect students.

These coaching institutes are built on the foundation of monetizing the aspirations of their students. They commercialize education and further maximize their advantage by pushing students to focus primarily on academics. This is often done at the expense of the holistic development of the students neglecting the chances of deeper learning. In fact, research records in 2022 reflected that in 8 years spanning from 2014 to 2022, 15 students from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh committed suicides across all the IIT campuses.

The rote learning strategy is known for pushing students into a slump which is extremely difficult to recover from. The industry needs to understand that they deal with live human beings and not just commodities which are being prepared for the market. However the coaching industry continues to grow on the basis of these profits, leading to an unhealthy race to the top. This added up with the poor regulations on these industries are further exacerbating the situation.

The Ministry of Education has recently introduced the Guidelines for registration and regulation of coaching Centres, 2024 which established that students are allowed admissions in receive coaching only if they are 16 years or above.  They also mention that student enrollments should be allowed only after the child has finished their secondary school examinations. An additional cap of 5 hours of classes is also prescribed to ensure the mental well-being of the students.  The Telangana government has also committed to implementing these provisions in the state, which might bring some respite to the students. However, it all boils down to the actual implementation of the policy which may differ on a case to case basis, which needs to be assessed on a regular basis.

Conclusion:

Because of the state of constant pressure, most children are unable to enjoy their early childhood and are slowly losing their ability to think. This is further combined with redundant practices like rote learning, which are the basic mode of learning used by most of the coaching centres. They naturally affect the creativity of the students, pushing them to fit into the prescribed standards. This needs to be reformed and other extracurricular activities should also be actively promoted. The government should make it compulsory to have basic sports infrastructure and every educational institution should dedicate a particular day in a week as a ‘sports day’.  This would serve as a refreshment for the kids from the academics, while giving them opportunities to explore alternate avenues to academics.