The Alarming Coaching Culture in India – Who to Blame?

Author: Prof. Mayank Shrivastava, IISc Bangalore I am that unlucky individual who, as a student, never got the opportunity to study in a coaching institute because (sarcasm) my parents were least concerned about my academic performance compared to the expected performance of kids in the neighborhood. Instead, I was sent to a boarding school – wholly disconnected from the outside world, which would witness the mushrooming of tuition centers and coaching institutes in the future. But staying away from this mushroom jungle helped me learn "how to learn independently" and "how not to get spoon-fed" – an essential attribute I see missing among many students these days. Tuition and coaching culture are not new. It has existed for a long time, but back then, only extremely weak students, particularly in secondary and higher secondary classes, would take the help of coaching/tuition classes, and sending your kid to coaching/tuition classes was not a status symbol. Coaching for classes below 9th rarely existed. Schools were doing well, and schoolteachers had reasonable income and respect in society. The income of a coaching tutor vs. a schoolteacher was not too different. However, running coaching classes or tuitions was not as respectable as what it was to be in a regular teaching profession. Most importantly, the coaching centers and tuition classes were still focused on helpin...