Isabella M Rozario

A coaching centre is a place where students receive extra help on their academic subjects. Nowadays, it seems no longer an option but a requirement in the field of education. Parents, along with teachers, think that fitting students within a strict regime will prove beneficial for them. The sole purpose of such parents and these centres seem to force the students to get straight As, and it is universally known that the objective of education is far more than just that.
This kind of a shadow education system is responsible for endangering students to gradually lessen their use of intellect, preventing them from grasping a subject content completely. Nevertheless, this business is expanding rapidly. According to a study conducted by ADB, the coaching industry is growing at a rate of 15 percent annually. Studies by Education Watch have shown that 80 percent of the students in class 10 go for coaching or have tutors. The percentages are also high for students in primary and secondary sections.
This shadow education business owes its success to many factors. The first is the fact that teachers do not provide adequate attention to students, in hope that these pupils will later approach them for additional help. Sometimes, students are even asked to attend coaching centres to get good marks! Another reason is the increasing competition in the education sector. Many public universities only accept students with a 5.0 GPA and the private ones are too expensive. Thus, in order to get in their dream universities, students start attending coaching centres. In addition, students are also sometimes lured in by peer pressure.
Even though it has been proven that students who attend coaching get better marks than students who don’t, there are myriads of adverse consequences. The first one is that coaching centres are very taxing to afford for some families. It takes about Tk 2,500-3,000 monthly for one subject only. Thus, it puts a lot of pressure on parents. Another negative impact is that students no longer deem it necessary to concentrate in school, after all, they know that everything will be reviewed again later. However, the most serious affect that coaching has is on a student’s health, both physical and mental.  It is very gruelling for a student to get through hours of school, only to again attend hours of extra classes. Furthermore, due to the monotonous course of studying, students may get tired of it eventually.
The coaching business is a very controversial issue. If these were to be stopped, then many teachers would lose a huge part of their incomes. However, if schools were to be more considerate towards pupils and if parent stopped bickering about grades, then perhaps, this shadow education business could be controlled. It is very important to remember that these centres teach students through a very restrictive curriculum, one that only contains materials that are likely to appear in exams. Such an education will not prove much helpful in life. Furthermore, students become very dependent on coaching, and thus, they no longer try to think out of the box.