THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Right from the moment Class X results are announced, there is a mad scramble among parents to enroll their children in various tuition centres in the city in the hope of ensuring a seat for them in a prestigious medical or engineering college. However, after two years of intensive ‘coaching’ and payment of hefty fees, many students still fail to make it to these institutions.
Even though there are established entrance coaching centres, private, home-based tuition centres have become hugely popular recently, with many of them seen flourishing in every nook and corner of the city. Besides offering tuition for Plus-Two course, these centres claim to ‘equip’ students to crack the entrance exams easily.
Nineteen-year-old Lekshmi’s dreams, or rather that of her parents’, to find a place in Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) landed her in an institution run by a private tutor from his home. After undergoing two years of rigorous coaching for each subject in various tuition centres, and spending close to half a lakh rupees, she could manage to get admission only in a local engineering college.
“Right from the beginning, I found the concept of going for separate tuition for each subject a big burden. But the success rate claimed by such centres made me continue. After two years, I ended up becoming mentally exhausted,”says Lekshmi.
“We have spent a lot of money on these tuition classes but the end results have never been that satisfactory,” says the mother of a student who is currently attending private tuition classes.
Asked about the burden on students, a Chemistry tutor in Poojappura admits that the coaching is indeed stressful. “However, the interest and determination to achieve something can compensate it in the long run,” he says.
“The meaning of education has changed a lot these days. There are very few people who see it as a medium to spread knowledge and wisdom. In such a scenario it’s very difficult to find the best places for the children. This is the main concern among the parents who have children of this age,” says Dr Jayaprakash R, a child psychiatrist at SAT Hospital, Medical College.
However, not all tutors agree that their coaching is non-rewarding. “I have been running my tuition centre for the past 20 years and every year I get around 100 students,”says Krishnankutty, a Mathematics tutor at Vazhathacaud, adding that at least five of his students get selected in All-India Entrance Examinations every year.
There are many tuition centres which accommodate as many as 100 students in a single batch. In some cases, the students are so large in number that the tutor uses a microphone to reach out to them.
“In the beginning of an academic year itself parents and school teachers should stimulate the basic concept of self-learning within students. Every higher secondary student should practise self-learning for two to three hours a day,” says Dr Jayaprakash, who is of the opinion that relying on tuition centres alone will not help.
He also adds that according to ‘Learning Behaviour Analysis,’ only 3-5 per cent of students actually indulge in self-learning techniques and wherever it is used, the results have been positive.