NEW DELHI: Anand Kumar, the renowned founder of Super 30, voiced his concerns about the current situation of coaching institutes days after three UPSC candidates drowned when rainwater collected on the road and filled the library at Rau’s IAS teaching center in central Delhi’s Old Rajender Nagar. It was brought up by Kumar that students are now considered ‘customers’ of the coaching centers.
Students continue to travel to Delhi for coaching even in the face of the abundance of online content, which prompted Kumar to discuss the future of educational institutions and the necessity of a change toward online learning.
“They can read it; my prediction might be off. However, based on my experience, I believe that 90 percent of these coaching institutes will vanish within the next 10 to 15 years,” Kumar stated.
Currently, the field of online education has barely seen 1% of tests conducted. I have not yet created a curriculum for my online classes with high-quality content. Students can take online classes from the comfort of their homes if a committed group of teachers provides such material, and the benefits of doing so will outweigh those of taking offline lectures, the teacher stated.
Kumar made a plea to the government to form a team and offer complimentary coaching to UPSC candidates. He pointed out that a lot of work goes into creating high-quality educational resources, such as the NCERT books, and proposed a similar project for online tutoring.
“I would want to request the government establish a team and provide free coaching to UPSC candidates. A decent book like NCERT has been written after years of work. It’s the book that I’m praising, not the government. I’m complimenting the book’s writing team. I enjoy reading the books for classes 11 and 12. Thus, Kumar said, the education department ought to devise a comparable plan and introduce a sizable webpage devoted to online tutoring.
In response to the Old Rajender Nagar tragedy, which claimed the lives of three UPSC candidates, Kumar offered his sympathies and denounced the business model adopted by many coaching facilities, pleading with them to put the health and safety of their students above their bottom line.
Kumar recommended that to guarantee appropriate seating arrangements and improved educational outcomes, coaching centers should only accept a certain number of students.
He emphasized that although he has received numerous offers from investors to expand his coaching institute, he has decided against commercialization to preserve the quality and integrity of the education provided.
Despite receiving many offers from investors to sell franchises of my coaching institute for expansion, my conscience prevented me from doing so. I urge coaching institutions to remember that education should not be treated as a business but should focus on continuing the teaching process with the best interests of the students at heart,” Kumar added.
Kumar also brought up the commercialization of contemporary education by pointing out that many coaching institutions now refer to parents as “clients.”
Earlier on Monday, Jagdeep Dhankar, the chairman of the Rajya Sabha, stated that tutoring had turned into “virtually commerce.”
“I believe that the country’s youthful demographic dividend needs to be supported. In addition, I believe that coaching has practically turned into a business; the front one or two pages of any newspaper we open are devoted to advertisements.
“In a country where opportunities are expanding, this issue is becoming a problem. I find it suitable to hold a brief discussion under Rule 176 or call attention under Rule 180. To arrange this, I will meet with the party leaders in my chamber before the zero hour begins,” said the Rajya Sabha Chairman.
Three UPSC candidates lost their lives on Saturday, July 27, when water burst through a tutoring center’s basement in Old Rajinder Nagar, West Delhi.