Private coaching: To ban or not to ban

"However tedious in many places, (it) has to be read entire." (On Poetry and Poets by T. S. Eliot)

The education system has changed drastically over the last couple of decades. There was a time when tuition and coaching were required by students who could not cope with their studies. It was a matter of disgrace if a child went for such classes after school. Today, however, trends have changed and bright students are seen juggling between various coaching classes. Moreover, the hard fact is that the education system in schools, colleges and universities, which fails to take into account that a student's mind is an individual whole and his or her experience and knowledge should be scholastic and comprehensive, is also contributing towards the growth of these coaching centres.
Additionally, we cannot expect all the students to have high IQ, and hence cannot say that they can prepare for competitive exams on their own. Parents can help their children only up to a particular level of schooling, depending on their individual qualifications, and it would be quite difficult for them parents to help their children with the competitive exams. Moreover, the culture of joining these coaching centres is gaining momentum because it has been successful when it comes to guiding a student to his/her ultimate goal.
The parents realised that there was something in these centres to meet the demand of their child.
Let us give these coaching centres full credit for the reputation they have built over this short period. In this connection, a line from The London Daily Telegraph is worth mentioning: "Coaching can certainly help you strengthen your sense of self-worth, focus on your goalsand get there, fast." If we go by facts and statistics, how many examples will we be able to put forward of candidates who are both meritorious and have passed the toughest of exams without coaching? We will find many examples of candidates who have reached the height of success with the help of these coaching centres.
Coaching centres exist because there is a demand for them. It is also true that not all schools can prepare students to score high in board exams or get through the difficult competitive exams. Yet, a complete ban on coaching classes cannot be an apt solution. Instead, they should be regularised in a certain way. There should be a gradation system for coaching classes depending upon the facilities and infrastructure they provide as well as the qualification levels and experience of the teachers. Besides, the number of years of existence of the coaching classes should also be taken into consideration.
Once the gradation system is established a limit can be placed on the maximum fees that can be charged by the coaching centres. This way we can prevent unnecessarily high fees being charged from students who need extra coaching. Apart from the regularisation of fees and implementation of grading system, the coaching centres should be asked the students to focus more on reading text books and not just their notes. Generally, it is seen that coaching classes just focus on giving notes that are easily memorised by students without understanding the actual concepts. They should focus more on the learning process, rather than on getting minimum marks to pass the exams. The best way to do it is make students realise the importance of reading everything from the text books and preparing notes based on the content of the text books. Also, innovative ways of teaching would help students grasp the content faster. Besides, there should also be a limit on the number of hours a coaching class can teach students in a week. This should also be regulated to ensure that students are not overburdened with studies (since they also have to attend schools, colleges, etc.) and get some spare time for extra-curricular activities and recreation.
These regulations will guarantee that there are not too many coaching centres and that only the best will survive. In schools and colleges, students hardly get personal attention and some slow learners lag behind. Also, the teaching standards sometimes vary due to poor pay of the teachers/lecturers. So, coaching classes give students from such schools/colleges another opportunity to get good teaching and to learn more things. So, why should such centres be shut down?
Nevertheless, we must not forget that there are some coaching centres that are below the mark and play with the emotions and hard-earned money of the students and the parents. In a word, if found guilty of breaking the norms of the above stated guidelines, they should be brought to book. After all, if we contract a disease, we should try to cure it with medicines rather than killing ourselves through wrong diagnosis.
Finally, coaching centres are doing a significant job now by guiding and supporting the aspiring students, and that is what counts the most. So, we should not think of a complete ban on them. Rather, our approach should be to remove their deficiencies with proper guidelines.

The writer is a Lecturer in English, Sylhet International University.
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