Tutorial-junior colleges surge on IIT or medical craze, easier rules – Times of India

(Left) A tutorial-college over a restaurant in Thane, and the toilet of another such college in the city

MUMBAI: Commercial spaces outside stations have long been a popular pick for coaching centres. Now, many of these cramped spaces are turning into state board junior colleges run by coaching industry biggies.

With less than 6,000 sq ft space now required to set up a junior college, coaching classes have gone mainstream. In an amendment to the Maharashtra Self-Financed Schools (Establishment and Regulation) Act, 2012, the state government last year reduced the over 21,000 sq ft land requirement.
Over 50 such junior colleges have come up in just two years (see box). In fact, one in three new junior colleges that started in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region this year is owned by Mahesh Tutorials — a leading chain of coaching institutes. Eleven of their institutes, Lakshya Prep School and Junior College, offered 2,200 seats to FYJC aspirants. About 10,000 science students attend such colleges, estimate sources.
Earlier, coaching institutes would tie up with lesser-known science junior colleges to offer the ‘integrated programme’. Students would attend science subject classes in the tutorials and not have to repeat those in college. After a court case, the government promised to crack down on such collaborations.
Now, the coaching mills, churning out IIT and medical aspirants year on year, have taken a new form. The junior science colleges run by them offer a ‘synchronised programme’ —teaching the college curriculum with the edge of coaching.
“While rules such as biometric attendance have been introduced to tackle the integrated coaching format, other rules are being relaxed to allow tutorial centres to start colleges. Once the initial approvals are received, there aren’t adequate checks,” admitted an education department official. Coaching class owners claim the department sanctions their proposals after thorough inspection.
An enquiry at Lakshya’s Thane centre revealed that a student could begin at the ‘Prep School’ from Class 9. The college functions out of four floors of a six-storey commercial structure with a popular restaurant on the ground floor.
A student from such an institute said they usually have lectures for seven hours a day thrice a week for HSC. On the remaining three days, the focus is on entrance test preparation. “Practicals are held three days after college. There is zero focus on extra-curricular activities. Some of the lectures were scheduled for three hours and it would get a bit boring. The entire focus in these colleges is entrance exam preparations,” said the student.
Pace, which started the trend about a decade ago, now has 14 such colleges in the city with a classroom strength of about 45 students. They are booming though they don’t come cheap. At Pace Junior Science College, if a Class 10 student wants to prepare for engineering, a three-year course (class 10 coaching and junior college) would cost up to Rs 8.67 lakh, including a junior college fee of Rs 50,000 per year (On the centralised admission portal, the amount is quoted as Rs 26,000 per year). However, if a student aces the scholarship exam, it means a discount on the fees.
Not only are the colleges multiplying, they are attracting high scorers, with the admission cut-offs staying over 90%. Sucheta Agnihotri, parent of a board topper, said they did not wish to send their daughter to far-off colleges. “The college by the coaching institute is just a rickshaw ride away and she saves a lot of time,” said Agnihotri. Another parent added that they need not worry about college and coaching classes separately after the Class 10 boards.
Praveen Tyagi, MD, IITians’ Pace, said their institutes offer quality education. “For years, students focused on IITs and medical colleges would enrol in colleges where attendance policies were not stringent to facilitate coaching time. These colleges, despite taking aid from the government, failed to deliver. We have teachers who are IITians, the best infrastructure and resources. We can offer the same college education to them with better results,” said Tyagi.
“When other states have made policies conducive for such a format, why should our students be at a disadvantage?” said Vinay Kumar, MD, Rao IIT Academy, which runs around five colleges. He pointed at how students usually move to south India or to Kota, famous for IIT coaching mills, for quality tutorials. Representatives from Mahesh Tutorials remained unavailable for comment.

The trend has disappointed many educationists. The director of one of the older IITs said increased faith in coaching classes is a sign of degradation of the school education system. “It is unfortunate, but parents are opting for it out of their free will and therefore there is a market for such colleges,” said the director. Vidyadhar Joshi, vice-principal, V G Vaze College, a popular pick for science students, pointed out: “The coaching classes focus on preparing only for the entrance exams and miss out on overall development.”
School education minister Ashish Shelar remained unavailable for comment.