We don't need no education
We
don't need no self-control
Hey teachers! Leave us kids
alone...
The veteran in rock music - Pink Floyd, wisely penned this
song of mass appeal. But who could have known that tutors would be more of a
terror than teachers. Gone are the days when all a student was required to do
was attend all classes at school, listen to his teachers attentively, memorise
his notes ritualistically and viola! There would be success.
Guidance
may be desired, but extra coaching was never required. In olden times, tutors or
coaches were employed only by the rich (especially the Indian nobles during the
British Raj) in order to teach their own children. They were employed by kings
to polish up the attributes that went into making the successors to their
throne.
Today, a majority of students be it of any class or stream,
visit a coaching centre or a 'study circle' as they have been christened. Admits
Ananya Verma of Rajdhani Enclave, "Sending my son to a coaching centre takes
away all his study tensions off my shoulders".
There are a number of
parents who would want to nod in approval to this thought. It sounds justified
when a parent would say -"it saves time and provides individual attention to our
wards, something which is not possible even in public schools, where there are
more than 45 students in a class and the pressure to complete the syllabus
mounts the teacher," explains Rajveer Taneja of Mayur Vihar Phase I, a teacher
by profession.
But do the students want to go to such coaching
centres? "Of course, the tutors in my coaching centre not only help me with my
homework, but also address my problem area and help me tackle the same in a
better way," says Shubham, an eleventh standard student, Takshila Apartments.
"I don't like going to a coaching centre. It eats up my time to
relax. By the evening, either I am too late or too tired to play with my
friends. Sometimes I can barely study after reaching home," exclaims an upset
Sriti, a student of Class eighth standard, Dilshad Garden.
"I like
going to my coaching centre because I get to make friends from different schools
and also learn about their way of treating a particular problem," says Anjum
introspectively. A little bit of probing and he squeals, "its not like a school.
We also have a lot of fun."
"With nuclear family prevalent today, it
becomes a bit tedious for parents to guide their child in their school work. So
by putting them in a coaching-centre, they get relieved to some extend as they
feel their wards have someone to guide them in their absence," says Majumdar,
child psychologist, Gagan Vihar.
There has also been a steady rise
in the number of centres in the past few years. The reason, as Rini, who runs
'Best Results' a coaching centre in Preet Vihar explains, "After a period of
some years, almost all schools end up having homogeneity among students
resulting in stagnation in the process of their development. At this moment,
coaching-centres come as a breath of fresh air. A child interacts with students
from other schools, economic strata, way of life, etc., which helps a lot in
making a mark in his own personality development, his nature, his way of having
fun. What one should do is send their child to such centres at an early age, so
that we get ample time to develop and enhance their individuality."
However, everyone would not agree with this view. Some parents think
it necessary to let their children study on their own, at least through primary
school. It not only helps the child develop confidence in himself and his work,
but also makes the child responsible towards his studies in later life so that,
by the time he finally gets enrolled with a coaching-centre for professional
guidance, he understands that he is solely accountable for his academic result.
"Especially in a middle class family like ours, where I have to
shell out around Rs. 1,200 a month for my son's coaching classes, which is quite
a sum, it creates a kind of performance pressure on him," says a concerned
parent.
It seems that with in a matter of a few years, coaching-centres
will have a roaring business similar to those of schools.