Maintaining a steady track record, there has been a tremendous success in IIT-JEE Advanced this year with 40 of the 100 students clearing the examination who have studied in Kota.
Coaching for entrance examinations to the sixteen functioning IITs, which test quantitative aptitude of high school graduates in Physics, Chemistry and Math, is today a multi-million-dollar industry. Its nerve centre is Kota, a small town in Rajasthan where some 150,000 students are enrolled in a cluster of coaching institutes any time of the year. The town's hyper competitive coaching institutes have earned a reputation for helping students ‘crack’ the IIT entrance. Thousands have made it since the business picked up in the early 2000s.
The scenario wasn’t the same 30 years back as Kota was a dying industrial town. Today, it is the hub for coaching institutes with flourishing ancillary businesses like food and hostel facilities. About 25 major and 100 small coaching institutes have cemented their existence in Kota in the last 20 years.
According to reports, almost 11-12% of Indian household budget is spent on coaching. Similarly, the Global Tutoring Market is expected to cross $102.8 billion by 2018. The city with 100+ coaching institutes is always poised to give the best to the society by converting potential talent into real talent.
From spending over Rs 80,000 per annum and besides making private arrangements for lodging as the institutes don't have offer boarding facilities, the institutes have thereby spawned big business for locals.
Some, like Kota in Rajasthan, have virtually become ' coaching factories' churning out hundreds of successful IIT applicants every year. Kota, being the hub of the coaching industry has witnesses unprecedented growth with an estimated worth of $16 billion.
Why coaching is a big buildup in India?
Lack of academic infrastructure
It is widely known that availability of infrastructure facilities in schools has considerable impact on school environment and it is one of the important indicators for assessing whether the schools are providing a conductive learning environment for children. Unattractive school environment, unsatisfactory condition of buildings and insufficiency of its structural material function as de-motivating factor for children and parents.
Weakening of the educational standards
The number of educational institutions has increased manifold in the country, but the standard of education has failed to improve learning skills among majority of students. From ill formed educational policies of states to inexperienced faculty, each segment in the educational hierarchy is facing some kind of problems which government has failed to address.
Varied standards of entrance examinations
There seems to be a definite set of rules for the eligibility of appearing in various entrance examinations such as NEET, IIT-JEE, etc. which restrict students with lower marks in appearing for the examinations. Coaching centers come to the rescue, promising them an extraordinary teaching experience.
Limited seats in colleges
There are more than 14.31 lakh students and their parents have begun worrying as the admission to the colleges begins tomorrow through submission of applications via online or SMS The admission seekers and parents are worried over getting admitted to their first choice of institutions due to limited seats. The harder it became to get into an IIT—over amillion students compete for the top 5,000 seats today-- the future anadmission guaranteed became shinier.
The Competitive job market
The town's hyper competitive coaching institutes have earned a reputation for helping students ‘crack’ the IIT entrance. Thousands have made it since the business picked up in the early 2000s.
Rise of the Industry as a GIANT
Kota's rise as an IIT coaching hub began in 1985 when V. K. Bansal, an engineer employed with the city based J. K. Synthetics Ltd since 1971, set up Bansal classes that subsequently became Bansal Classes Private Limited. Bansal began giving tuitions to Class VII in 1981 and subsequently took on Class X and XII students. The turning point came in 1985, when his first student cleared the IIT- JEE examination. In 1991, he set up Bansal Classes. However, where the Bansal story began, some faculty broke away to set up their own coaching institutes. All these institutes have their businesses running into crores.
Jayesh Garg, the Franchise Manager, Bansal classes Private Limited, said, “In Bansal Classes, we believe in filtering students with new ideas and techniques rather than burdening them with stress for the examinations. We aim at achieving a target in student’s education which eventually the schools couldn’t provide them.”
He quoted, “Success is not directly related to comfort and resources, but to determination and persistence.”
Pramod Maheshwari, Director, Career Point, said, “I was the first IITian to start a coaching center in Kota. In our institute, we aspire to instill the attitude, values and vision that will prepare students for lifetime of continued learning and leadership.”
He also quoted his ideology for the institution, “Care leads to Career.”
Going by the ‘Shadow Education’ Report, Kota’s coaching industry is nearly worth 800 Cr. The Institutes are opening branches across the country.
Kota has some of the most experienced and prestigious educational institutes that has challenged modern conventions in education. There are estimated 25-30 Cr students in India. We have an estimated shortage of 14 Lakh teachers. This makes India the next big market for academic tutoring at affordable prices.
