Coaching classes: causes and effects

 

 

• In a race to excel more than competitors, coaching classes along with other institutions have become a resort for the ‘betterment’ of students’ academic performances.
• Coaching classes have become ubiquitous in the lives of city students. It is impossible to imagine student's lives with out them.
• They are simultaneously a compulsion, and at the same time criticized a lot for spoiling education, student's lives, standard of schools etc. 
• With almost all students attending coaching classes in cities, the interest of school teachers to impart knowledge to students has diminished gradually.
• Students do not pay attention in regular classes and this lowers regular teacher's motivation to teach their best.
• College student coaching improves retention and graduation rates but their approach in these classes is centered towards marks and better academic performance only. It is the fault of the education system that weighs the student's standings on the brilliance of his score-card alone.
• Hammering of the matter into the student's heads by means of continuous reiteration in written or oral form has become the way most coaching classes function today. Coaching classes are just boosters. They do improve the achievement grades of the students, but they are ad hoc, not a systemic or sustainable improvement in education levels. 
• Attending high-school coaching classes is not only a waste of time for students who are sincere in their studies, and is also a burden for ones who are basically not interested in studying.
• Long hours spent at coaching classes also hampers student's later years if they want to pursue careers in fields that are non-academic. 
• Incidents of backaches, neck aches, eye-related problems, obesity have been increasing among students and all of them can be mostly attributed to sitting in classes for hours at a stretch without any physical activity whatsoever. 
• Coaching classes at the school-level are completely unnecessary. They become a burden and students neglect non academic things like swimming, karate etc. At the college level, a good coaching class is a must for extensive practice and continuous expert guidance for scoring well in entrance exams which colleges fail to provide.
• Coaching classes helps only the intelligent lot and the ones who are sincere. For others they are a burden. Coaching classes are performance enhancement drugs where eligibility is nothing but affordability.
• Coaching classes are a by-product of capitalism and those enrolling for them must try to make the most out of them as customers. Individuals are to take decisions as per their individual needs. 
• Coaching has become a lucrative business and these coaching institutes lure students by various unethical tactics to join them in the name of career making. 
• If examinations are redesigned to test for originality, creativity, analytical ability rather than only test for information, then these rote learning shops will have to shut down. Once examinations start rewarding thinking rather than knowing, the incentives will change and the role of coaching colleges will change. 

Coaching classes as complementary to regular classes is a good thing but increased dependence only on coaching classes to achieve success in exams is futile. Coaching classes are like a vitamin booster shot that do not address the real problems in diet but only a cover up for deficiencies. Students who stands good chance of succeeding in competitive exams (less than 1:10 in model tests) must take coaching classes and for others it is nothing but waste of time and money. At the same time exorbitant coaching fees makes no sense.