The cut-throat race to the top

A typical Indian student's daily lexicon includes acronyms like IAS-PCS, NEET, IIT-JEE, CLAT, MBA, GRE, GMAT, and so forth. Competitive exams are not a recent phenomenon in India. For decades, youngsters have raced to get admission to the most prominent colleges and universities.

With hardly any reforms in testing schemes or an increase in the number of quality institutions, the only way to succeed is to get a high score on the entrance exam. Losing just a couple of marks can result in a demotion by hundreds, if not thousands, of ranks. The cut-throat competition is exacerbated each day by an increasing population though the seats remain the same.

Aakanksha is a computer engineer who appeared for the competitive exams in the mid-2000s. She says, “When I spoke to seniors, I heard a very different story. Competition was not as fierce back in the day. Many people who went to the IITs cracked the entrance exam without any coaching! Moreover, back in the day, the focus was more on a well-rounded education than exam-cracking strategies.”

The scenario has changed for the worse in the last couple of decades. Modern academia encompasses far more than the pursuit of education and research. A profit can be made from it. Students bear the brunt in multiple ways since they are viewed through the lens of potential customers.

A commodity

For 35 years, Nilay Kumar has worked with both PhD students and school children as a mentor. According to him, coaching establishments have mushroomed across the country in the last couple of decades.

Teenagers are full of energy but lack clarity and conviction. So, students must receive appropriate guidance. "A slight nudge in the wrong direction and a teenager would forgo their prime years to excel at something they probably do not even fully comprehend," he says.

Rashmi, a medical student, recalls her NEET coaching years. After preparing for the entrance exam simultaneously with Class 12 board exams, she took two more years to get into a reputable government medical college. “I used to spend only 30 minutes or so with my family when I was preparing. I was stressed throughout, sometimes worrying about the syllabus, sometimes about coaching’s weekly tests, and whatnot,” she said.

“I went to two different institutes in two cities. I was in a batch of 250-300 students in both places." In such institutes, there are only a handful of students who the teachers only focus on.

"In hindsight, the best students are a free form of advertising for coaching centres, while the rest are merely their source of income,” she added.

The science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) remains the most popular stream among the youth in India. It is also the most difficult to get into and succeed in. Taking advantage of this, coaching centres have proliferated the education scenario.

According to a committee report to examine the JEE system, by 2015, India's coaching institutes had grown to be a whopping Rs 24,000-crore industry, despite the fact that they operated with little regulation.

Adarsh Kumar, a Bengaluru-based digital media (sports) professional, underwent the rigours of engineering coaching and an engineering college. He explains, “My early coaching experience was good, and I attribute that to consistently scoring among the top five or ten students in my class on the weekly and monthly assessments." After a while, though Adarsh discovered that there was a fault in the system. His attention reduced and so did the importance I received as a student.

Relentless pressure

Temporary hiccups, personal or health issues are not considered here. "If this behaviour is promoted where people are being judged by weekly or monthly performances, then someone with good potential might miss out on quality education and guidance just because they had a temporary hiccup in that phase,” he says.

For the previous few decades, India’s youth has been locked in the vicious cycle of rote learning, minimal emphasis on practical knowledge with barely any curiosity for research. Salary packages and the idea of industry-ready college students have reigned supreme.

The country has a vast number of universities but none have made it to the top 100 rankings in the recent decade. This is perhaps a comment on India's educational landscape.