Coach-innings Over or In

 It's 4am and the alarms go-up in the neighbouring flats on either side of my apartment complex, the frenzy of activity is visible in the study rooms and kitchen, this follows the late nights in the study room. I bumped into the kids in the evening, while coming back from work, which was a bit late, I asked them why are they carrying the bag full of books, they replied, that they are coming back from coaching centre after a 12 hour session, with 2 hour travel time makes it a 14 hour shift with loads of home work to finish before they call it a nigh the and the alarm goes up again.

This is the routine of most of the kids, from their 7th standard in few cases and from 9th standard in most cases,  their childhood, teenage is engaged in books, mocks, preps, exams and solving papers. Few even do not have time to pick up life skills and social skills.

Why this mad rush, there is peer pressure kids within the group, pressure from parents and as peer parental pressure to get the ward into these coaching centres and showcase the badge if IIT, NEET preparation. There is aspiration and dream of landing in the Once Crore club, yes like the Friday release when the placement offers are released and the top salaries are highlighted to build the aspiration and comes the chase to make it to the premier institutes in the country

For the populous country in the world, which is at the forefront of digital revolutions and leading the way in most. The demand for talent from premier institutes is huge and the seats available in them is fractional, when you further look at the computer sciences as a stream these are in decimals of the population coming to graduate education in the country everywhere, here are few stats

No. of eligible undergraduate students every year: 4.14 Cr.

No. of IITs in India: 23

No. of sets available at these IITs: 17385 (JoSAA) 

No. of computer sciences seats in IITs: 1891

The above statistics make for a case of concentration risk of demand, this is percolating to the students who want the share of this minuscule pie. This acts as the fodder for the coaching centres in the country and the commercialisation of these institutes to compete which each other come with offers, schemes and have expanded the market to capture these aspirants from class 6th, whereas one needs to be prepared for these entrance exams during their 12th. The parents who send their kids for these classes at young age display the badge of honour and sharing the stories of burning the midnight oil by the kid, without realising the kid mental appetite is up in the smoke, have heard conversation between parents where they debate the need for more rigour to ensure the chances. This makes for a perfect opportunity to cash in by the coaching centres.

The front full page ads of AIR holders by top ten institutes, ensure that the Headline news is buried as the 11th page or in few places the 15th page, just like the above issue of coaching centres and their un regulated practices, its impact in kids at young age, this has been buried under the greed of aspiration, reaching to the top and to make it to the AIR table,  this also has caught he fancy of the PE / VC firms  which have invested, bought over the coaching institutes pumping in billion of dollars of funds, turning them into factories and run them as Fast Moving Education Goods (FMEG) business, headed by the people who have cut their teeth in FMCG, Telecom, Bottling and other intensively competitive sectors.

This has given birth to the following Coaching Institutes market

No. of Coaching institutes in India: 30,970 

Total market revenue of this industry: Rs. 58,088 Cr. (Infinium Global Research)

Total PE investment in Coach institutes: $ 200 Million ++       

  COVID has further augmented this industry and has added the online education / EDTech industry which has drawn further interest from investors, global funds and resulted in few traditional brick and motor institutes merge or taken over by ED Tech firms and vice-a versa, this only meant that the students, now had to also finish the online modules along with the physical classes and additional hours of course load included in their existing schedules.

 Apart from the above reasons for demand for coaching institutes are the following.

1. Insufficient teaching in classroom

2. The up-skilling of present teachers

3. Low number of premier institutes

4. Glorification of the pay packages and placements

5. The cost of private education

6. Unregulated Coaching institutes

7. The examination module of entrance exams

8. Differential pays at corporates for talent from premier institutes and other institutes, leads to preference of premier institutes paramount

This has lead to major issues with mental health of students and increase in the stress levels which has led to increase in suicides in this age group of kids who are enrolled with Coaching institutes

The government, through Ministry of Education, Department of Higher Education in January 2024 has notified guidelines for Coaching Centres in India.

Objective of the Guidelines (Guidelines Notified on Ministry of Education site 2024)

To provide guidelines for the regulation of coaching center for better guidance and assistance to the students in any study programme, competitive examinations, or academic support. 

Need for the Guidelines 

(i) To provide framework for registration and regulation of coaching centers. 

(ii) To suggest minimum standard requirements to run a coaching center. 

(iii) To safeguard the interest of students enrolled in coaching centers. 

(iv) To advise coaching centers’ focus on co-curricular activities as well for holistic development of students 

(v) To provide career guidance and psychological counselling for mental well-being of the students.

While these framework is in place it is also important to address the above reasons for the growth in coaching institutes.

Reads:

https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/Guideliens_Coaching_Centres_en.pdf