ARE COACHING CENTRES REALLY BENEFICIAL?

In an era of competition, everyone wants to be ahead of others. The education sector is no exception. Students work so hard for the competitive exams as their admission to a good institution depends on their ranks in these exams. Graduates do aspire to the competitive exams for numerous public sector jobs. Extra work and guidance are necessary to score well and be a rank holder. Nowadays, joining an expert Coaching Centres is like a trend among students.

Students even of junior classes join coaching centres to score high in annual exams and boards. Are these coaching centres beneficial, and do they give students an edge over those who do not take coaching? If yes, then how? The question has emerged as a debatable issue whether students need extra coaching or not. 

To answer the above questions, we have to think and get familiar with the benefits and the drawbacks of coaching centres/classes. 

Benefits of a Coaching Centres:

Following are the benefits of a coaching centre:- 

• Correct and Proper guidance: 

Students in adolescence are confused as they enter the new education world. Students need to prepare for the boards, entrance exams, and competitive exams. Coaching centres not only provide them guidance in the study but also provide career guidance. For students studying for boards, proper guidance is beneficial to decide their future stream of study. They make students aware of the options available as per their calibre and interest. 

• Subject Specific Studies: 

Not everyone is good in all the subjects. In some subjects, individuals need extra focus and guidance. At Schools and in regular classes, it is not possible to get much attention. These coaching centres do provide subject-specific coaching like math, physics, chemistry, etc. It helps students to curb their weak subjects and improve their overall grades. 

• Personalization: 

At schools, a teacher has to teach the whole class. Teachers have a limited time to complete the syllabus in time as per the teaching plans. They can’t provide that much attention to each individual. Coaching centres focus on every individual and properly guide them in the subject students show interest in. They focus on the development and learning as per the requirement.

• Utilization of extra time:

In student life, after school/lecture timings, students have a lot of spare time on social media, games, and movies. Coaching can be the best utilization of the spare time by fixing a daily routine for additional studies. Undoubtedly, extracurricular or non-academic activities are suitable for relaxation, but spending more time than required may be counterproductive. In coaching classes, students can focus more on their studies yet have enough time to relax. 

• New learning styles, tips, and tricks:

In schools, every student is taught the same patterns. At coaching centres, they develop different styles for students with different understanding. Students in coaching centres preparing for competitive exams are taught some conceptual tricks and tips that help solve problems quickly, can’t obtain such guidance from self-study. 

• Employment:

One benefit not for students but teachers is that many part-time teachers can work and earn in coaching institutes on getting. Even some students of a higher level course teach part-time and gain experience.

Adverse Effects of Coaching Centres:-

Now, let’s talk about the adverse effects of coaching institutions.

• Extra expenditure:

Costs of education are rising rapidly. So do the coaching costs. Students who need extra attention have to pay extra money as a coaching fee. Some students, who are not financially that strong, get deprived of this facility. Some parents do provide coaching to their kids, but this financially strains them. Institutions giving coaching for government exams like IAS charge a fairly unimaginable amount as fees. Some prominent institutions have package fees of nearly 1.5 lakh rupees for the session.

• Extra burden on students:

Students spent their time with books at school. Even after school hours, some students spend even more time coaching for every different subject. Many students preparing for JEE and other entrance level exams take tuition for different subjects from morning to evening. They also get a lot of homework from school and coaching centres to practice more and more. This imposes a lot of pressure on students. We are well aware of the suicide news of students due to academic pressure. Recent news related to this came from Dhanbad. Not only that, many students face depression and suffer physically and mentally.

• Misleading Advertisements:

Coaching centres give full-page newspaper advertisements of their success. But in many cases, they are not what they are presented. This misleads the students to take admission to these institutions. In major institutions, students are divided into groups like A1, A2, and so on. Students with already high intelligence are placed in one group, and the best coaching is given to them. Institutions then cash their success by attracting students and place them in other groups where no same facilities and expert guidance is provided.

• No practical approach & kills Creativity:

Coaching centres do not provide any practical approach. Its app learning—forgetting—learning again and practising theoretically. This only increases pressure and kills the Creativity of the students. Creativity is a much-needed attitude for a successful career also. 

• Immorality:

Coaching has come up as a rapidly growing industry. Coaching centres are being more focused on making money. They admit almost every student without taking proper entrance and promise results. Some teachers of schools also give tuitions at home after hours. Parents think their child will get extra attention from the same teacher. Many teachers do not teach appropriately at school to persuade students for tuition. This should not happen. We can say extra coaching is promoting immorality also.

• Conditions of Students:

India resides in Villages. Students of villages and outlying areas can’t approach these centres easily, which are housed in big cities. Some government exam aspirants make tremendous efforts. They go to cities, live in a hostel away from their parents, and pay colossal rent and coaching fees. But they do not get proper facilities as promised.

The research was done on Kota institutions, and hostels and results came out that most facilities are just satisfactory, lots of pressure is on students, coaching is not that good that it was promised, Hostels lack safety and medical facilities, students in hostel feels homesick and above of all, Kota witness more than a dozen suicides of aspirants every year.

• The original purpose is not fulfilled:

At famous and significant coaching centres, there is a large number of students. The teacher comes and explains the topic. If anyone has a doubt, he may or may not ask in front of all the students. So, if a student is leaving the centre still filled with doubts and didn’t get personal attention, the original purpose is not fulfilled.

Conclusion:

An unbiased answer to the question is complex. These days, many coaching centres have diverted their attention to profit-making only. We also can’t ignore the good centres where students get the proper guidance. This is undoubtedly an extra burden on parents’ pockets, but if the desired results are achieved, it’s not a bad deal. In the end, it is advised that students who already have good grades and can focus on getting better with self-study should not have institutions to get everyone on going there. Practice and knowledge are all that it matters in the end.