This nexus could be defined in umpteen descriptive words but still the gravity of the situation would not get altered. This nexus is savage, ruthless, inhuman, awful, barbaric and more… The nexus could even be called an axis of evil. This nexus is could be termed ‘Tuition Terror’ as well. This Terror has undoubtedly put the bloody terror and other such act to shame. Dreams of hundreds and hundreds of needy students as well as parents have been shattered by the ‘Tuition Terror.’ And it continues to wreak havoc year after year unabashedly. This terror is being unleashed by coaching classes run by the white-collared men and women who are ‘respectfully’ called Sirs and Madams by their victims. The other side of the nexus is the band of junior colleges and their unscrupulous managements who play their roles as viciously as the coaching classes in their looting spree. These so-called Sirs and Madams have, clandestinely, put the temples of education and the ‘gods’ (teachers) to rest by their dirty hands. The coaching classes are designed to mint money the most obnoxious ways. The nexus tries to make killing out of education by exploiting thousands of innocent students and their parents, successfully.
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Nagpur: There was a time when parents thought of sending their wards to tuition classes for the very subjects in which they were weak. For those students who regularly attended schools or junior colleges and studied regularly the tuition classes were not at all in the picture. However, the time has changed, for the worse to say the least. The tuition class has become a necessity or being felt necessary for a kid. (Pity). And the coaching classes sensed the pulse of the ‘mentally bankrupt’ parents, correctly. Advantage of parents’ changing mentality is being taken to the hilt by the mushrooming tuition centres that dot each and every corner of the city. The large, lucrative hoardings with smart images and cunning words at every major square is testimony to the trend. Today, for admissions to engineering, medical, management and other such courses there is no substitute than coaching classes. Situation has come to such a pass that coaching classes have emerged as parallel education system to schools and colleges. The teachers serving the coaching classes are the same teaching in schools and colleges. But this system called the nexus has and is denting the pockets of parents no end. The trend of tuition has become so influential that forget the Board exams the parents are sending their children to coaching classes right from the standard one. One of the reasons cited is short of time the parents have in this fast-paced life. The serving parents cannot devote sufficient time for tutoring their kids. Such class of parents as well as affluent ones are being robbed by the coaching classes and educational institutions in the shape of the vicious circle. The real victims of this nexus are the poor parents and their wards howsoever they bright may be.
Fee package:
A tricky trend is being witnessed in the so-called coaching classes. The ‘package’ trend. The ‘package’ covers tutoring for engineering, medical, CET preparations along with Class XII training. Almost all coaching classes have fixed their fees according to their whims and fancies and, of course, on the strength of powerful nexus with colleges. If Class XII subjects are to be talked then the fee ranges from Rs 5000 to Rs 10,000 per subject. However, when it comes to ‘package,’ most of the coaching classes recover a hefty amount in the range of Rs 1-1.25 lakh. The only relief for the parents is installment facility. The less influential coaching classes keep them contented with Rs 80,000 or Rs 1 lakh. I fact the menacing fee structure of the coaching classes has split the parents in two parts. The parents coming in the first part are those who cannot afford such astronomical fee package and thus deprive their children from engineering, medical studies. The second category of parents are those who manage such huge money for higher studies for their children. Shockingly, the coaching classes are not a guarantee that the ‘inmates’ would secure good marks for admissions to entrance exams and go to their desired colleges. In fact the success percentage is not more than 4 percent at best.
Hefty salaries for teachers:
According to rules and regulations of Maharashtra Government the teachers serving in government as well as aided schools and colleges cannot run coaching classes. The teachers are even barred from extending their services to the coaching classes. However, these teachers refuse to follow the diktats, cocking a snook at the Government rules and serving the most of the reputed coaching classes. The coaching classes have become the source of double income for hundreds of teachers. Moreover, many coaching classes have appointed the best of the teachers who never go to any school or college. The salaries paid to such teachers would easily overshadow the salaries of teachers serving in government schools and colleges. It simply means that when the coaching classes are offering such hefty salaries to their teachers then it is but natural to recover staggering fees from students to on par with the equations.
‘Eerie silence’ in junior colleges:
The mushrooming and thriving coaching classes have given birth to a new trend. The city of Nagpur hosts around 150 junior colleges in which science stream courses are taught. The students taking admissions to engineering and medical courses first take admissions to Class XI for science stream courses. The outcome is simple. When the students have opted for coaching classes by paying astronomical fees then who cares for classes in junior colleges. Thus an ‘eerie silence’ greets the visitors to the junior colleges. The premises wear a deserted look. In fact, in most of the junior colleges the science course classes are not held at all. The students are busy in coaching classes all day long. It will be a hazard to guess the situation in future but the present truth is that the coaching classes are playing in crores. The business is flourishing with every passing moment. The coaching classes are found selling dreams to the students who aspire to become engineers, doctors at any cost.
Education hub and the mushrooming coaching classes:
The recent days have seen the city of Nagpur emerging as the education hub of Vidarbha. The number of students lining at coaching classes has increased manifold ostensibly for taking admissions to medical and IIT. The desires of parents to see their wards as doctors and engineers slyly facilitated thriving of coaching classes. It is no surprise around 300 coaching classes are being run in the city and the number is increasing at the drop of a hat.
It is surprising the government is unable to punish these institutions. To stamp out this unholy nexus between the colleges and the coaching classes, the state government should stop immediately aiding educational institutions which have tied up with coaching classes. It is important to note that a parallel coaching system generates huge black money.
