A crappy article written for DNA NM

Coaching Classes:

Navi Mumbai has become a nucleus for the educational setup in recent years. With the advent of a wave of educational institutions in the fields of Engineering, Medical, Dental and a whole lot of other streams, the number of coaching classes has increased too. The city boasts of a score of eminent coaching classes for all the subjects right from Junior College to Graduation.

The standard of teaching in most colleges in Navi Mumbai has dwindled to lamentable levels despite the spurt in the number of students. As such, students have no alternative but to turn to these reliable saviors- Coaching classes. Private tutors and students alike feel that the concentration level of college teachers is lacking and sometimes appallingly so.

But, are coaching classes so very essential? A year of hard studying on her own didn’t deliver the marks that Shilpi Pathak had hoped for, thus paving the way for enrolling in a coaching class. She believes that the whole system forms a vicious circle. Other students stand by this belief.

Chakravarthy Sridhar, a student of RAIT, who had joined classes for more than half of his subjects in the first year, and stood in the top ten in his college, stresses on the fact that coaching classes are necessary but at the same time detrimental to a student’s education. Some students like Manas Karekar are against the general viewpoint. He believes that coaching classes are like crutches, once students start relying excessively on them, they will never walk on their own.

Prof. Irfan, who teaches Digital Design for technical students, states that students have developed a mindset where they are concerned only with passing and getting marks, hence the obsession with private tuitions. He adds that the coaching classes also conduct their classes in a most unprofessional manner, cramming students in stuffy classrooms.

Prof. Amit Iyer, previously teaching Electronics and now Management related subjects believes that the HSC setup has become a complete rat race to attain the highest marks and thus tuitions are absolutely vital for these students. On being asked who was to be blamed for this ruckus, he said it is the collective fault of the students, their parents and the colleges. He added that the students of today are so used to this system that they are incapable of using reference books on their own.

There is a growing trend nowadays of toddlers hopping onto the bandwagon from their school days. It is alarming as encumbering children at such young ages is the de facto fault of parent’s helplessness and the burgeoning drift towards results and marks. Parents and children have to play an important role to tackle this virus.

Coaching classes can be deleterious to a students overall pragmatic knowledge but have become a necessity now in any field. As long as steps are not taken to improve the standard of teaching in colleges, the classes will stay. Finally, it all boils down to a student.

Some students are consummate in their studies while others are not; most have a laid-back attitude towards education (who can blame them!). But there are things more important than marks or percentages in life.

Think of what William Love Bryan said, ‘Education is...

One of the few things a person is willing to pay for and not get.

DNA NEW MUMBAI