Coaching vs Schooling: Is India’s coaching culture overtaking classrooms? We’re asking this because the very foundation of formal education, the school, is now being questioned. Do you know,
In a recent announcement, the Ministry of Education has formed a nine-member panel. The panel is going to look at and examine why students are depending more on coaching centers, how dummy schools are growing, and the fairness of entrance examinations.
This decision is made after observing that coaching institutes are slowly replacing the role of traditional schools in a student’s academic journey.
Are Schools Losing Purpose? Give Opinion
The committee, headed by Higher Education Secretary Vineet Joshi, will study why students increasingly opt for private coaching over regular schooling and whether systemic gaps in the school system are contributing to this shift. It will also look into how practices like rote learning, lack of critical thinking, and weak career guidance in schools are affecting student choices.
The other members of the panel include representatives from IIT-Madras, NIT-Trichy, IIT-Kanpur, and NCERT; the chairman of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE); joint secretaries from the departments of school and higher education; and principals from Kendriya Vidyalaya, Navodaya Vidyalaya, and a private school.
In Summary: Coaching vs Schooling
| Issues | Summary |
| Coaching > Classrooms? | Students are not attending school properly, skipping classes, and depending on coaching and institutions |
| Dummy School Crisis | Some schools are having fake enrollment, and CBSE & state authorities are to take action |
| Systemic Concern | The education system’s overemphasis on entrance exams is causing increased student stress and neglecting well-rounded learning. |
There are many issues that the panel and the Ministry of Education are looking into, but one of the key issues includes the dummy schools- institutions where students are enrolled only in name to meet board exam requirements or secure eligibility under state quotas, while attending coaching classes full-time.
Recently, the CBSE has also taken action by canceling the affiliation of over 21 schools and downgrading six others. Notice has also been sent to some schools by the Delhi government to do the same.
As per the media, “In a related development, the Delhi High Court called the dummy school system ‘fraudulent’ and instructed both CBSE and the state government to conduct inspections and report on attendance records. The court observed that such practices undermine the purpose of formal schooling and pose risks to students’ long-term development”.
The panel is also responsible for examining how the pressure to crack entrance exams is affecting students’ health and well-being, and whether the limited availability of seats in premier institutions is fueling this coaching-centric culture. It is expected to suggest ways to strengthen career guidance, enhance classroom learning, and reduce unhealthy dependence on coaching.
The Education Ministry has taken this step after seeing the increase in stress in students, the increasing gap between regular schooling and coaching, and suicide cases. The suggestion that the panel will give could help to decrease all this, and shape future policies to bring back balance between classroom learning and coaching.
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