Majority of middle class parents desist from sending their children of age group exceeding 17-18 to established coaching institutions for making careers in IITs, medical, management institutions including for Law courses for want of resources as these make a hole in their pockets by Rs. 3 Lakh per annum even if their children have been rated above average by their respective schools with potential to qualify for listed courses, reveals a survey conduced under aegis of ASSOCHAM Social Development Foundation(ASDF).




Such parents are thus left with no option but to encourage their children to chase their mirage for better career in banking, railways, life and general insurance and state levels civil services for which career counseling is a little expensive for which middle class parents burn their mid-night oil and generate money, adds the findings of the survey.

The survey conducted in four weeks in February 2010, in which parents were randomly picked up by ASSOCHAM ASDF team in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangaolore, Kolkata, Kota, Pune, Chandigarh, Jabalpur , Madras and Hyderbad. More than 80% of parents want  their wards to get enroll for medical, IITs, MBAs, LLBs, but resource constraints come on their way. The sample size of parents interviewed by the ASSOCHAM comprised over 4,000 and locations chosen for picking them up mostly was outside school premises in above cities.

Releasing its finding, ASSOCHAM Secretary General, Mr. D S Rawat said that after Medical/ IITs/ MBAs, the coaching institutions grooming aspirants for civil services, banking and life insurances, CA, CS are found to be in the second best raking in enrolling candidates.

For most parents with children at the threshold of a career, the main expense is a professional course. Even preparatory classes for IIT, medical college or GRE exams are expensive. IIT prep classes, for instance, cost between Rs 2.5Lakh and Rs 3 Lakh, while medical entrance coaching could set you back by anything from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh.

Some really bright children do manage to get through without help, but the booming tuition shops tell the story of a huge demand. The costs of professional degrees/ diplomas are the biggest costs in this age group.

The active involvement of coaching centres in trying to beat the system is alarming.  A few decades ago, only “weak” students were expected to take private tuition and were looked down upon by merited students for whom formal teaching in the class supported by self-study was sufficient to do well in the examinations, said Mr. Rawat.

Today, almost all Plus Two students take private tuition. 85% said that for IIT/Medical mandatory to attend coaching centres. More than 70% of students are from metros where coaching facilities are good, leaving the students from rural and semi- urban areas at a great disadvantage.

90% said that private tuition is a necessity to succeed in entrance tests. Formal school education has taken a back seat.

The coaching industry has become highly professional and corporate, with many institutes operated by IIT graduates. Services of retired IIT professors and even current IIT students are used, with lucrative compensation.

There are entrance tests for admission to popular centres. A few cities have become famous for such coaching centres and students, often with parents, shift to those cities for two years. A whole new flourishing service industry has been evolved, perhaps unique to India.

Some coaching centres have deals with private schools that admit their students; the students are given mandatory attendance, without attending classes, at a price. The students attend the coaching centres on full-time basis, reveals the survey.

Assocham estimate of size of the coaching class industry is based on about 6-8 lakh students attending these classes every year at an average cost of Rs.1.5 lakhs per year and average cost of each student is 1.5 lakhs, the annual turnover of the coaching industry is a staggering Rs.12,000-15,000 crores, totally spent by parents.

Tuitions have become a craze these days, especially in the large cosmopolitan cities. So much so that the students even miss their regular classes to attend their tuition classes. In many cases, those not taking tuitions consider themselves inferior. They are even considered foolish by their fellow students.

There are many other contributing factors for the phenomenal growth of tuitions in the country. Many parents feel that tuitions make students regular and punctual and make them busy in their studies. “Tuitions have become a stepping stone for success in the competitive examinations. Instead of spending time watching serials on the television, while attending tuition classes, students are at least spending their time well in studies”, said 65% of parents.

The teachers are also no longer shy in mentioning that they take tuitions. In fact, many think themselves as better teachers because they are able to attract a large number of students in their tuition classes at their homes.




Majority of parents also feel that tuitions enable them to finish their courses of study ahead of time even before they join college. They thus get a chance to revise the syllabus in their regular college classes. The students who are shy to ask questions in their regular classes can remove their doubts in the coaching classes and avoid failure in life.

The survey also highlights that the sufferers are the poor students who remain behind in studies mainly because their parents cannot afford the sky-high prices for the extra coaching classes. Teachers are charging thousands of rupees per subject for teaching only one subject for a period of two to three months. True indeed, these teachers earn in two to three months more than what they earn in their jobs in a year. In other words, the tuition classes have now become more of a hard sell business rather than a coaching