3 Reasons Why Indians Are Spending More on Tuitions Than on School

3 reasons why Indian students have no faith in the education system and are increasingly relying on private coaching.

More and more students in India are relying on tuitions, not school to get by. (Photo: The Quint)

There’s the official government-sanctioned system of education. And then there’s its shadow, growing ever larger.

The increasing dependence on private tuition speaks volumes about the quality of education provided in Indian schools.

An estimated 7.1 crore or almost 26 percent of the total number of children in India attend private coaching classes, according to a National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) report quoted in Live Mint. It estimates that nearly 11-12 percent of a family’s budget is dedicated to these tuition classes.

Here are three areas where the Centre is failing despite allocating considerable funds for schemes that promote education.

1. Curriculum

Over 89 percent of the 66,000 households surveyed said the main reason for investing in private coaching was “augmenting basic education”.

“We exist because of the failure of the school education system”, says Pramod Maheshwari, Chairman and Managing Director of Career Point, a listed coaching institute in Kota.

The government is spending a lot of money, putting in a lot of effort, but there are no quality deliverables.This is because their focus is not on quality education. They prepared a curriculum and are simply delivering it in class. The government’s focus is not on strengthening fundamentals which will get them into institutions like IIT where they can become a future technology leader.

Basic maths and science concepts are covered in class 11 and 12, but coaching institutes train a student to apply these basic concepts to complicated problems.

Coaching institutes bridge the gap between what is taught in school and competitive exams to get into IIT and AIIMS. (Photo: The Quint)

Its unparalleled success rate has helped Kota emerge as one of the largest coaching hubs in the country. (Photo: The Quint)

2. Delivery Process

According to the NSSO report, poorer sections of society were opting for private tuitions as much as richer families. Among the poorest 20 percent of the rural population about 17 percent of students were taking coaching classes.

The reason for that could be that in rural areas, the government tends to focus on social schemes more than the quality of teaching and learning outcomes.

“Social schemes like Sarv Shiksha Abhiyaan and Mid-Day Meal needs to be separated from teaching”, says Pramod Maheshwari who co-founded one of the leading coaching institutes in Kota more than twenty years ago.

If you go to the villages, you will see that nobody is even preparing the mid-day meals, it’s only in books, so where will you see the enrolment improving? It’s only in books. So, from where will the quality of education improve? It’s only on paper. Whatever improvement in enrollment is happening is because of awareness not because of the mid-day meal. Let teachers teach and focus on the quality of deliverables, improving their teaching skills and make them responsible for getting results, not to make food.

Pramod Maheshwari, Chairman and Director, Career Point

Enrolment in schools on account of the Mid-Day Meal scheme should not be seen as an indicator of the quality of education. (Photo: Reuters)

3. Faculty

According to the report, private unaided institutions spend 22 times more than government institutions on education.

Government schools hire teachers who have completed their BSc or BEd and become Post-Graduate Teachers (PGT). Whereas in coaching institutes, most of the teachers are engineers with practical and professional knowledge of the subject.

In the country’s largest coaching hub Kota, teachers who produce all-India toppers are idolized as ‘hero teachers’ and are known to draw annual packages of over a crore.