It’s not just the proliferation of engineering colleges that is responsible for the hundreds of techies the city produces. Even before they join the tech courses, students enrol for hordes of coaching classes that dot the city’s various localities. Each extension had its own reputed tuition class, run by a reputed lecturer of a reputed college. Like elsewhere in the country, parents here too aspire to see their sons and daughters become engineers and doctors. And so with a mission to ensure that their children too achieve figure in the high nineties cut-offs set by engineering colleges, parents want to drive their children to these ‘coaching’ classes after their regular college hours.
With some of the coaching classes “assuring individual attention”, parents don’t mind paying the fees they charge.
A normally quiet lane in a residential area suddenly buzzes with activity early in the morning. The rest of the street is deserted but in front of one particular house are parked scores of bicycles. That’s one sign of the presence of a much sought-after lecturer. Today, the same bicycles have been replaced by motorcycles and scooters.
Many of these coaching classes have become more organised and have turned to “academies” with their own buildings and established administrative and admission set-ups. They virtually function as parallel colleges.
In addition to these, the city has its own little known coaching classes, some run by organisations and some by a group of well-meaning individuals.
The SSLC was considered a crucial turning point in a student’s life and coaching was considered a must for anyone reaching this stage. In Basavangudi, the famous “Lecture Class” in the morning used to be attended by scores of students and handled by well-known teachers at the Shankraiah Hall. This lecture class was said to prepare students for the all-important phase of their lives. And in some extensions, like one in Jayanagar IV T Block, a group of lecturers and professionals conducted classes for PUC students free of cost. Each lecturer handled one particular subject including maths, physics and chemistry but charged the students nothing.