Coaching classes for entrance exams.

"Coaching classes for entrance exams".., with all the hype created about the 'JEE' and 'AIEEE' and the continuous series of quotes shot by the top IIT directors against coaching classes, this topic, although not one of the top topics for debate in the country, is slowly yet alarmingly gaining some importance..
Before getting on to the detailed postmortem of this issue, it wouldn't hurt to rewind a some bit and look into how the entrance system used to work say about 20 years ago..child would pass class 10, when if interested in science and if was also a bit ambitious, would have a go at the various entrances..he would probably prepare for a couple of exams seriously say his boards and the IITJEE.Most of the students would do without any formal coaching. Those days boards used to be one of the main exams to crack down well, as if not JEE, a majority of colleges around would take you primarily based on your boards figures. And, another main feature those days, that although might not seem that much pertaining to the topic at this stage, was that the JEE papers were subjective, and were used to catch real 'problem killers', with difficulty level second to none other exam than the olympiads.
With all that said, now we can go on to compare that picture, to the one today...Well, today the picture sadly is quite different. Now a days its self study out, and coaching kicking in.., people don't wait for as long as class 10th.,the child's path is narrowed by time he gets into class 8th itself, some of the children take up this senseless venture voluntarily, while some others are forced into it, either by parental pressure or peer pressure. So, by the time you are in a stage where you have to decide between the different streams of education, you are already assigned to the engineering stream, and if that wasn't enough, also into formal IITJEE coaching! Once IITJEE coaching takes off, you are all charged up, a couple of years of foundation course and you are off to a 'professional coaching class', or on many occasions packed off to Kota or Hyderabad or some xyz coaching institute which for the next 2 yrs to come would make you toil , bust your hump, keep your nerve, and fight for JEE.
When you enter class 11th and subsequently coaching, you notice a lot of pleasant things. The first , foremost and the one that's gonna stay with you for the next 2 or in some cases 3 yrs, is your 'ultimate goal of entering the IITs', shown to you by your 'God imaged' teachers. Teachers who are tagged with the IIT name. But in reality are the kind of guys who goofed up all their years in IIT and just got away with 6 pointers, the perfect kind of guys who could relate to parts of books like '5 point some one' with their college lives. These teachers do not leave any stone unturned in motivating you to dedicate all of the next 2 years of your life to bust your hump and lock your self in a room with books. Lines like 'make it into iit and you don't need to do a thing more' (based on what majority of the students have said) are a part of such efforts. So for the next 2 yrs, you are a man possessed, who sets himself, 'the most priced thing on earth', a seat in iit, to achieve. And goes about it as a man on fire, with the teachers playing his 'Gods'.
What results from this is, that either you make it into iit, if yes, you are all praises for your institute, if not, you either settle in for something less, or as some brave ones do, attempt the paper all over again..
Now, the basic story being stated, it is for every individual to analyze whats going on. For some stats,
-The main coaching centers lie in Kota (rajasthan) , Hyderabad (A.P), and Delhi.
-Every yr there are around a hand full of lacs of ppl attempting JEE
-The coaching industry has a total worth of some 5000+ crores in Kota alone!
-Another 1000+ crore worth in AP
-Typically around 1 lac to be payed by the child per yr, which can be assumed as 2yrs, or even 3 in some cases.
-In kota, there are some coaching classes that coach students to clear the entrance exams of IITJEE coaching classes themselves!
To be frank, IITs do not appreciate these coaching classes, for not one but many reasons.
The very first one being that these kids that enter coaching institutions, are made to 'mug-up' stuff, they aren't taught the basic concepts on some occasions ,and are taught short-cuts and twisted methods, which mite make you ultimately crack the questions, but at the end of the day probably not as much a deserving entrant as another candidate who has in-depth understanding of the concepts. This fact, although might be strongly opposed by the coaching classes and their students, becomes kind of visible when you some times sit in a class of the present day IIT freshers. Very sadly, the class' average standard of conceptual understanding, has indeed gone down. Although you have other reasons like reservation increment to blame for this, coaching is also a culprit in it.
Secondly, in contrast to those students, 20 yrs ago, the kids who go to coaching now a days, hardly give any priority to their junior college(ie class 11th and 12th). Wouldn't be wrong to go a step ahead and say that they give zero priority in regions like kota and A.P. A lot of people from kota have told me that they used to go only about once a month to school in kota! If that doesn't look ridiculous enough, a guy from my town, never went to his school for the whole of class 11th, even class 12th, and not even his 12th final practical exam!! only went for his final written exam. In case you are wondering how such a thing is possible, then the answer is a collaboration between the coaching classes and the schools. Schools do it to attract more students, and classes do it in order to get maximum result from the students. In all, something that drives the IITs really mad!
Thirdly, looking at the enormous industry worth several thousand crores, one would obviously be astonished. Here are the so called 'God' teachers in the coaching places, who get heavily payed. Payed in lacs per month. And, there is an IIT prof. who had to do a hunger strike (in IITM), in order to get a lousy pay increment! Nothing can be sadder than this for the situation. IIT is a premier institute for making engineers in the country, and greedy money sucking businessmen feed on this fact to earn in several crores. The fact that JEE has become an objective paper, has further increased their grip. There is a constant sense of requirement of not only the kids with rich dads who can afford 2-3 yrs of rich kota coaching, but also those who belong to the middle class and the lower middle class sections of the society to deserve a seat in the IITs.One of my friends told me that there is a possibility of a seperate coaching center for some reserved students in kota or some other place by some block headed moron. These people seize every opportunity, every developement in order to fill their pockets.
Fourthly, a very common feature observed in students making their way into IITs from 'hard core coaching' (a guy who's really busted his hump for 3-4 yrs) , is that they lack good communication skills, interaction skills, and their thought process restricted to the narrow lines of JEE. This thought process is even more narrowed by the fact that JEE is an objective exam now. People give up a lot of stuff, (stuff that you really need to enjoy when you are 16-18) like playing games, staying with parents, watching movies, interacting with people, and restrict them selves to the the 4 walls of a room locked up with a huge pile up of JEE books. this really hampers the child's personality in a lot of ways. Again something objected to not just by the IITs but also by common sense.
There are a many more reasons to state for a stand against coaching but ill have to stop somewhere :) . In fact one of the first few things that are asked in IIT Madras to the freshies entering every year is 'how many of you come from the world of coaching?'.
But, looking at it, from another point of view-'students point of view', it would be fairly difficult to crack the exam without any guidance, although there are some people who do it every year. So, an optimized solution would be not to spend the child's time , energy and money on some 'hard core coaching class' like the ones in Kota and hyderabad., and instead make the kid read books, meant for JEE, take occasional guidance from someone, practice problems, understand the concepts in depth.That i believe would do the trick., resolve all the issues, but yet, every man is entitled to his own views.......