Private coaching centres conduct classes inside govt medical colleges
HYDERABAD: Should, and can, private coaching centres be able to operate inside government medical colleges? It is almost an open secret that such coaching centres, offering training for NEET, have been conducting classes inside prominent institutions such as Gandhi and Osmania Medical Colleges. These centres pay handsome ‘rents’ to the college authorities too. Faculty at these colleges readily admit that this is indeed true. They also admit that the practice has grown massive proportions.
A student at Osmania, who attends these classes inside the college, says, “These classes used to be held inside the college auditorium. The private coaching centres would pay rent.” This rent, sources say, would go into the college development fund.
Dr Sashikala Reddy, principal at Osmania Medical College, does not deny these claims. “The classes stopped recently on orders from Director of Medical Education (DME). They used to be held in Gandhi also, but the DME later denied them permission so a similar order was passed here too. They were held mostly in lecture halls on weekends for students so they could be taught in a way professors are not equipped to teach,” she says.
Dr Mahesh Kumar, president of Healthcare Reforms Doctors’ Association, says, “The practice is flourishing since it is the students that are demanding for the classes.” Kumar says students prepare for PG orientation right from MBBS second year.
“They do not have the time to go out, so they welcome it when private coaching runs classes inside the college campus. It is a fairly unethical practice. The only way to curb it is to increase the number of PG seats and the size of the faculty to improve quality of education,” he says.