Coaching for entrance exams: help, hype or harm?

Decoding the kind of coaching that elevates the student’s capability without any mental burden.

Coaching for competitive entrance exams, particularly JEE and NEET, has been steadily increasing over the years. Students are subjected to long hours of ‘training’, sometimes from middle school onward. Cities where such coaching institutes have mushroomed have been recording student self-harm incidents, whose number is suspected to be much higher than what is reported.

Coaching is expensive and requires long hours of classes beyond regular coursework. Nevertheless, demand continues to grow, while students dream of higher marks and better careers. Are such institutes useful? 

First, parents should determine whether their child has the aptitude and skills required for a career in technology or medicine, as most coaching focuses on either medical or engineering entrance exams. They should be provided with sufficient information, guidance, and exposure to diverse careers, rather than the impression that only engineering or medicine offers a stable future.

Two sides of the coin

Our education system has been designed to provide a strong, all-round foundation through Class 12. This is why Indian students continue to outperform their Western counterparts and secure top positions in prestigious organisations abroad.

Hence, diluting regular academic instruction to accommodate entrance exam coaching may leave the student with less education or a poorer understanding of concepts. It is also likely to promote further ‘rote-learning’.

Rigorous coaching can cause significant stress among students due to long hours, intense competitive pressure, and a lack of individualised attention. This environment contributes to academic overload, exhaustion, anxiety, and depression by combining extended study hours with school and homework, leaving little time for relaxation or extracurricular activities.

The government has also taken note of “dummy schools and PU colleges”. Department of PU Education, Government of Karnataka, has issued directives prohibiting PU colleges from conducting entrance coaching classes on their campuses. The Karnataka Unaided PU College Management Association (KUPMA) claims that there are at least 50 such dummy schools in Bengaluru alone. Its secretary, Narendra L Nayak, stated that they have made a representation to the government to curb them.

In 2024, the Government of India issued directives for coaching centres, focusing on regulating misleading advertisements, ensuring fair contracts, promoting student welfare, and enforcing transparency. They were instructed to provide accurate information in ads, obtain consent to use student testimonials, offer pro rata refunds for dropped courses, maintain weekly days off and reasonable class hours, and adhere to safety and building codes.

In November this year, a Lok Sabha bulletin announced that a parliamentary standing committee has initiated a comprehensive review of the coaching process, including mental health support systems for students. 

Many genuine centres do follow these guidelines. In Karnataka, many centres provide high-quality care and establish effective routines, particularly in residential facilities, so that even average students develop the motivation and habit of studying regularly and achieve their goals. It is crucial to identify such institutions, as some unscrupulous ones are tarnishing the entire coaching industry.

The intense focus on high rankings can also diminish a student’s sense of self-worth, leading to feelings of being overwhelmed and a heightened risk of mental health issues. Balanced coaching can provide the necessary inputs for students to obtain proper guidelines for cracking competitive exams, even in the future.

Tread wisely

The founder of a reputed coaching institute, on condition of anonymity, said, “We explain to the parents clearly that we are not enhancing the basic learning of the student. We are training them to use their existing knowledge to ace the competitive exams using correct techniques and constant practice.”

Parents who cannot afford expensive coaching sometimes take loans to enrol their child in coaching centres that claim fantastic results, without evaluating the likelihood that the child can succeed.

Each year, many students secure merit seats at prestigious professional institutions by studying previous years’ question papers and preparing independently, but their numbers are decreasing. Media reports recently said that only 46 students from government-run PU colleges secured medical seats this year because these institutions do not offer integrated coaching. Online coaching is offered, but experts say that it is less effective than in-person coaching. This scenario is widening the gap between the haves and have-nots.

After rigorous training over many years to gain admission to IIT, some students experience burnout before or after joining IIT. A former dean of student affairs at IIT Bombay noted that he had to deal with many students who felt that, after years of continuous study, they deserved to be treated specially for being among the select few.

In engineering, many reputable private universities have emerged, providing high-quality education, and admission is less competitive than at IITs. With reasonable preparation, a capable student can gain admission to one of these and expect a successful career.

The right path would be to provide each child with broad exposure to all available careers from an early age, gradually aligning their aptitude with their interests, and then begin narrowing their focus to specific careers. Whether in engineering or medicine, parents should evaluate their child’s capacity to pass entrance exams and, accordingly, determine whether to enrol them in coaching, which class to enrol them in, or to allow them to prepare independently.

If coaching is required, one should select a coaching institute that does not interfere with regular academic work and provides systematic study techniques without placing undue pressure on the student. Regular monitoring and counselling for stress management and the maintenance of good mental health should be provided for the student until the exams are over.

(The write is an academic counsellor)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.