NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Education has constituted a nine-member panel to review concerns related to private coaching institutions, rise of ‘dummy schools’, and the effectiveness and fairness of entrance examinations, officials said on Friday.
The committee headed by Secretary (Higher Education) Vineet Joshi is tasked with suggesting measures to reduce the dependency of students on coaching centres for their higher education needs.
“The committee will examine the gaps in the current schooling system that contribute to students’ reliance on coaching centres, particularly the limited focus on critical thinking, logical reasoning, analytical skills and innovation and the prevalence of rote learning practices,” a senior Ministry of Education official told news agency PTI.
The committee will also look into the mushrooming of dummy schools. Thousands of students preparing for engineering and medical entrance examinations prefer to take admission in dummy schools so that they can focus solely on competitive exam preparations.
Aspirants often opt for dummy schools to benefit from state-specific admission quotas for medical and engineering colleges. For instance, students who complete their senior secondary education in Delhi qualify for the Delhi state quota in medical colleges, providing a strong incentive to enroll in dummy schools in the capital.
“The reasons behind the emergence of ‘dummy schools’ will be examined and the panel will study their role in encouraging full-time coaching at the cost of formal schooling and suggest ways to mitigate them,” the official said.
“The role and impact of formative assessments at school and higher education levels will be assessed and how their absence affects students’ conceptual understanding and preparedness for competitive examinations. The panel will also analyse the rising demand for quality higher education, limited availability of seats in premier institutions and how the imbalance drives students towards coaching institutes,” he told PTI.
Evaluating the awareness levels among students and parents regarding multiple career pathways and the impact of this lack of awareness on the over-dependence on a few elite institutions; assessing the availability and effectiveness of career counselling services in schools and colleges and suggesting measures for strengthening career guidance frameworks, are among other terms of reference of the committee.
Other members of the panel include the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) chairman; joint secretaries from school education and higher education departments; representatives of IIT-Madras, NIT-Trichy, IIT-Kanpur and NCERT; and principals of schools (one each from Kendriya Vidyalaya, Navodaya Vidyalaya and a private school).
The move comes following complaints received by the Centre about rising cases of student suicides, accidents, lack of facilities in coaching institutes.