Coaching guidelines likely to increase stress in students, say expert

Jaipur: The Centre’s new guidelines for coaching centres, restricting them from enrolling students below 16 years of age, are going to increase stress in students but are unlikely to have much effect on their business model, say academic mentors.

Citing cases of student suicides, excessive fees, and consequent mental stress, the Higher Education Department issued detailed guidelines which state that students can be enrolled in coaching centres only after their secondary school examination. The guidelines also mention that coaching centres cannot make misleading promises or guarantees of rank or good marks to parents and students. They are also prohibited from publishing any misleading advertisements relating to their claims.

Some students start attending coaching institutes from class VI onwards as parents feel they would get used to this kind of coaching by the time they reach class XI and XII when they need to study for the tough entrance exams for medical and engineering colleges.

Coaching institutes like Allen, Resonance, and some others have junior coaching classes where students from class VI onwards come for two to three hours twice or thrice a week. “It is not something very rigorous but instils discipline among students early, so that they follow a certain routine and are way ahead in class and also knowledge-wise,” Ashish Arora, founder, head, and academic mentor of Allen, Jaipur, told Deccan Herald.

Arora, whose centre has produced many IIT toppers, says the guidelines lack clarity and putting students in coaching institutes in class XI and XII would certainly be more stressful. “They would find it hard to cope with the demanding schedule because the competitive exams are difficult and need long hours of dedication, attentiveness. For most without any kind of coaching regimen, it would be hard to adjust initially at least.”

He explains that putting off coaching for smaller classes would be good for those children who are self-disciplined, who like studying but at their own pace. “But generally students of lower classes, even from VIII to IX are not very focused and coaching for them is exigency if they want to grow in their career. Stress is part of the process but one learns to cope with it as one grows up. Students who enrol early adapt to our more rigorous coaching in XI and XII and obviously have a slight edge over others.”

Banning coaching from class VI onwards would affect the coaching institutes but not in a big way in terms of revenue.

Manoj Sharma, growth strategist, Resonance, Kota told DH: “This junior coaching forms only 10% of the revenue model of the coaching industry and is not a very profitable segment of the industry. It is a small part of the business model. The fees range from Rs 25000 to Rs 30000 annually. They do not have any target exams like for those who are in XI/XII preparing for entrance exams. Their fees range from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh, which if stopped is going to affect the industry. These pre-foundation coaching is not career defining for the students. And most students are locals, not that they would come from other parts of the state, so the entire allied industry of mess, housing are not affected as well.” But he says the teaching staff for junior classes would be the most affected although there would probably be no ban on online classes.

He says as a regulating measure, the central government guidelines are a welcome measure but adds that all businesses should be regulated. He says education is on the concurrent list and the state government would be the implementing agency, and as of now, no guidelines have been issued by the state government.

But harried parents are already calling up coaching centres asking about the road ahead for their kids, says Arora. “Coaching is not just all text-bookish but for gaining additional knowledge.”