Academia and Pandemic

Since the outbreak of Covid19 in 2020, there has been a paradigm shift in the mode of education across Jammu and Kashmir. The pandemic, in its initial phase, hit the education sector very badly.

But with the periodic review of the prevailing situation by the government in the last three years and easing of the pandemic, the education sector seemed limping back to normal even as physical education activities started resuming in schools, colleges and universities across Jammu and Kashmir.

However, as the third wave of Covid19 has hit the globe with the new Omicron variant, the J&K government again ordered shifting of education to online mode.

On January 9, it issued guidelines for all schools, colleges, polytechnics, coaching centers and ITIs to adopt online mode of offering education till further orders.

The directions were silently adopted in all educational institutions without any hue and cry, but, much to the surprise of many, there was a kind of outcry over the suspension of offline mode of education in private coaching centres.

Students and parents staged protests at several places while the coaching centres’ body also urged the administration to allow offline classes in coaching centres with a cap on the physical attendance of students. Over the past three years, there was no outcry over prolonged closure of educational institutions from school to University level but people are showing their resentment over closure of private coaching institutes for offline classes.

The specific outcry has raised many questions in the minds of people as it is seen that the private coaching system has succeeded in replacing the routine education system both in government and private sector.

Nowadays, it has become a trend for students to take admissions in private coaching institutes across the Valley. The motive behind all this is to obtain high scores in exams like board exams, national level competitive exams or entrance exams for admissions.

It is still debatable if all the students joining these coaching centres succeed in achieving their target. And it is also a matter of debate if joining private coaching institutes helps the students to score well in exams or is it all because of the self study done by the students. I have interviewed dozens and hundreds of students who topped JK Board, CBSE or other national level competitive examinations who always attribute their success to their self study. No doubt many attribute their success to the schools and private coaching centres as well.

No doubt, private coaching institutes give students the right guidance but in many cases it has been seen that majority of the students join these institutes only to follow the trend.

We cannot ignore that the students in coaching institutes not only get academic guidance but also get to know about career options and right goals as per their interest and academic record. But at the same time most of the students land in degree colleges after spending one or two years in these coaching centres. The point here is that joining coaching institutes doesn’t serve the purpose for all.

It is a well known fact that joining a private coaching centre is not only about getting guidance, career counseling or achieving good scores in examinations.

But the coaching institutes have additional expenditure attached to it which is incurred by the parents. Not every parent can afford extra expenses for education along with high tuition fees at school. But, the parents want their child to do better in academics and they take the pain of coaching institutes fees as well.

Having said that private coaching institutes provide proper counseling, career guidance and help in achieving good scores in exams, the question here is who should join the private coaching and who should not.

For me, the students who spend lakhs of rupees at private coaching only to land in degree colleges two years later to pursue graduation should not waste money at these coaching institutes instead should take a decision at the right time after qualifying their class 10th examination.

It is a fact that coaching centres have success stories which get public attention but the industry has produced so many failures too which however are not owned or discussed anywhere. It is an old saying that “Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan.” Same goes well with the private coaching institutes as well.

Now coming to the point, the outcry over closure of private tuition centres is signaling that the coaching system has gained weightage than normal schooling. The coaching system is becoming more prevalent than the mainstream education which is becoming a boon for some.

Whether this private system of taking education is effective or not requires a serious study and evaluation, but one thing is certain: these institutes have gained attention and prominence over the years so much so that their closure now leads to outcry which is missing when schools and colleges are closed. It would be better if proper guidelines are adopted for coaching centres for them to deliver better especially for students who come from underprivileged backgrounds.

No doubt the government has kept the 10 percent reserved quota for underprivileged students but complaints continue to pour in against the majority of the private coaching centres for not properly implementing the government orders. Students selected under the 10 percent reserved quota are forced to pay more fees than what is fixed by the department.

The government guidelines for regulating functioning of coaching institutes shall also include their fee structures and exit options with refunds for the students. A fine balance must be adopted to ensure that these institutes earn fairly while offering education to thousands of students. There must be no injustice with both students as well as owners of these institutes. Fair play alone will help serve the objectives for both sides.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author.

The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in the article do not reflect the views of GK.