Events & Issues
New
Delhi, 5 July 2019
Coaching Centres
ADD-ON TO TRUE EDUCATION
By Dr. S. Saraswathi
(Former Director, ICSSR, New Dehli)
“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 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 centres
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 centres 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
secondary school level, replacing valuable time for true learning with
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
equipments 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 per cent and 78 per cent 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
per cent at graduation level and 15 per cent 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 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
per cent 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 centres, known
as “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 organisation 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 cost in
the pursuit for a bright future for their wards.
The chief
characteristics of the coaching centres are their supplementary role to formal
institutions, private management and operation, and limitation to academic
subjects to cater to the grades in 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 centres dealt with in the Draft policy.
The Supreme Court
while dealing with a PIL on growth of “unrecognized” private coaching companies
in the country in February this year stated that the private coaching centres 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 wholesale rejection of all coaching classes as bad in 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 epicentre of coaching culture having thousands of institutes.
Their annual turn-over is estimated to exceed Rs.1,500 crore.
The draft policy
prepared by the Kasturirangan Committee states that the system of Board exams
for 10th and 12th 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.---INFA
(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)
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