From the ramparts of the Red Fort on the occasion of the country’s 80th Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that he would be rolling out free coaching classes for students and young adults. The classes, he said, felt like a compulsion for parents of middle-class families and were often a huge financial burden, and he announced plans to train 10 million youth for competitive exams and artificial intelligence.
The announcement does not make it clear when, how, and to whom such free coaching classes will be rolled out. Still, it comes amid increasing disillusionment, especially among the youth, concerning the education and employment situation in a country. More than that, however, free coaching classes are unlikely to make a big difference to the lives of young adults, especially if the job situation does not improve.
It is no secret that coaching centres have become a huge industry in themselves. This is because an aspirant’s future depends on doing well at an entrance exam. Be it for clearing entrance exams like the JEE to get into one of the country’s prestigious technology or management institutes, NEET (to gain entry into medical and dental colleges), or clearing exams like those held by the Union Public Service Commission. Families end up spending huge amounts of money in the form of coaching fees, as millions of aspirants spend years preparing for these examinations in the hope that the money spent can be recovered through a seat in a prestigious college, which will open doors to a high-paying job, or directly in the employment of the Government of India through the civil services.
With high-paying jobs hard to come by and a burgeoning workforce, even that is no longer a guarantee of a comfortable life. Not only is such a system a huge burden on parents, but it also puts pressure on students who feel a sense of responsibility and guilt over the money lost if they fail to qualify via such exams, resulting in suicides among students.
In such a situation, offering free coaching classes and presenting it as a solution to the multifaceted problems facing the youth today is insincere at best. Free coaching classes will solve nothing. It will certainly increase the number of students taking up competitive exams, nothing beyond that. Instead, what is needed is to move beyond competitive exams and have a broad-based testing system that conducts a comprehensive evaluation of each aspirant before they can be selected for a seat in a college or recruitment as a civil servant. The manner in which the entire burden of one’s future is made dependent on a single exam needs to change and spread out to a system of continuous evaluation. Weightage needs to be given to the marks scored by the student throughout the year and not just his performance at the entrance examination.
Doing away with entrance exams will not only bring an end to a needless and increasingly corrupt industry fueled by these coaching centres, but it will also reduce the incentive to leak competitive exam papers, thereby bringing relief to millions of students. Furthermore, making coaching classes free will only increase the supply without doing anything to increase the demand. The government will have to follow a policy through which it massively improves the economy by creating millions of high-paying jobs.
The government needs to think about systemic changes, not band-aid solutions.
