Explains the Principal of Bahadur Chand Munjal Arya Model Senior Secondary School, Ludhiana: "Some relaxation has to be given to plus one and two classes because we do want our students to be successful in various entrance tests. That is the aim of every school. However, on request by parents, we are in the process of starting special classes by our own teachers to help children prepare for the competitive exams."

But efforts by principals of several colleges and schools in this direction in the past have met with failure. M.S. Dhillon, who retired early this year as Principal of Khalsa College, Amritsar, had a couple of years ago, made an effort to put a stop to the tuition menace. With the help of a few dedicated teachers, he started special coaching for students on the college premises itself. The move was sabotaged by none other than parents of wards who said they preferred coaching by private academies. Why? There are two primary reasons. First, parents and teachers have lost faith in the education system. Secondly, private academies, through aggressive advertising and marketing, some ensuring "100 per cent satisfaction" or "guarantee" of a seat in an engineering/ medical college, have been successful in selling the idea that private coaching is a must for success in exams. Most parents and students are sold out on this idea.

Explains a parent, a journalist in Amritsar: "The Punjab Government has put a ban on fresh recruitment of teachers since 1991. Many schools have hired teachers for senior classes on an ad hoc basis. These teachers are paid paltry wages. Also, they are inexperienced. They cannot be expected to impart the best education to students. Parents just can’t afford to risk their children’s future, leaving coaching entirely to them."

There are at least 50 academies in Amritsar, some entirely a one-man show with ‘super-speciality’ in a particular subject. The most prominent among these are SND as PT College, Ekadhiken Academy (it has franchises in other cities too), BRC Academy, Brilliant Tutorials, ISG Institute, Bawa College of Physics, Sadana Institute (for chemistry), BC Mehra College, Prof Wadhera Institute in Chemistry and Dashmesh Institute. Prof Sadana was arrested in a raid by the vigilance staff since private coaching by government and aided college/ school teachers is banned. He was a teacher in DAV College, Amritsar. He has resigned from the job.

Three lecturers of science and maths of Rajindra Government College, Bathinda, were also caught giving tuitions in their residential premises on May 14 this year. The action was taken on repeated complaints that they had been coercing students to take private tuitions from them. As many as 200 students were found taking tuition at the time of the raid. A case under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 168 of the IPC was registered against the three lecturers.

Despite the ban on private tuitions and punitive action in some cases, teaching shops continue to flourish. Confided a teacher on condition of anonymity. "A teacher in a school in Amritsar has rented out a room adjacent to the school building purely for the purpose of tuitions. The students have only to emerge out from the school gate and then re-enter the room adjacent to the school, with no time lost in commuting." How considerate! Most school students attending coaching centres are those preparing for IAEEE, CET, IIT/ JEE and CBSE (PMT). The stakes are high and the parents are more than willing to pay enormous sums to ensure a seat for their wards in prestigious engineering and medical institutes. A majority of coaching centres charge from Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 for the entire year or Rs 2,400 per month. Usually, the tuition fee for each subject is Rs 800 per month. The maximum rush is for "crash courses" i.e. coaching for two months prior to the entrance exams. The teachers employed elsewhere work on a part-time basis. But not all academies are run by teachers. Take the instance of Aditya Institute at Bhai Bala Chowk in Ludhiana. It is run under the name of Usha Tyagi, but the man behind the scene is her husband Sanjeev Kumar Tyagi, an employee with the CIPHET (Central Institute in Post-Harvest Engineering Technology). A chemical engineer, he started the venture four years ago. On the faculty of the institute are two retired teachers of Arya College, Ludhiana, one from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and a woman lecturer, an M.Sc in maths.

Among the top coaching centres in Ludhiana are Alpha Tutorials at New Rajpat Nagar, Ekadhiken on Pakhowal Road, Aditya Institute at Bhai Bala Chowk, Siddharth Academy at Sarabha Nagar and Sethi Study Circle in Model Town. Efforts to have a word with the owner of Siddharth Academy, the most popular one in Ludhiana, proved arduous. The man was too busy and had to leave station. The institutes in Ludhiana receive students from neighbouring towns such as Jagraon, Ahmedgarh, Malerkotla and Khanna.

How did the culture of coaching centres strike roots in the state? Apparently, it started with competition among various colleges to produce the best results. The tussle was especially acute between DAV and Khalsa institutes. Both vied for top ranks in competitive exams. This led to the practice of special coaching by the faculty on the college premises to students who showed promise. But the more ambitious among them insisted on private coaching instead of group coaching. The teachers were only too willing. This was the beginning of the menace. Soon the teachers formed a clique.

A teacher in one subject would recommend another for the second subject and so on. The competition got tougher with the introduction of entrance tests to various professional colleges. This helped teachers tighten the noose around students. Pleased at the initiated results, parents, too, began rushing to these teachers. Some of them graduated from private tuitions at home to study circles of 20-60 students and then to coaching centres and academies. As their pockets grew in size, so did their social stature. The teachers grew ambitious. Some left their jobs for the "business". Many continued to do both. They have tremendously benefited from the fact that the syllabus for plus one and plus two classes does not contain information required for the entrance tests. Neither is the exam method the same.

A teacher in one of the coaching centres, who did not want to be identified, said: "What is wrong with private tuitions? We work very hard from five in the morning to nine at night. We collect matter for extra information to give our students the edge over others. We make notes, conduct mock tests and hone the examination skills of students".

"Also, why should students in schools we teach alone benefit from our knowledge and experience. We have given them a choice." Sounds familiar. Isn’t this what advertisers of branded products say? Undoubtedly, education has become an industry. Nowhere is this more evident than in Bathinda.

According to reliable sources, tuition in Bathinda is a Rs 100-crore per annum business — an income no other industry in the town has generated so far. More than 100 coaching centres and 1,000 government and private lecturers and teachers are involved in the trade. The town hit the headlines when, in 1995, at least 100 students trained in various coaching centres made it to professional colleges. Varinder Kumar, a local lad, topped the PMT (Punjab) that year. From then on, there was no looking back.

The town attracts aspirants from neighbouring states like Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Uttaranchal. Claims Sanjiv Goyal, who runs an academy in the town: "Now, we have students from Kolkata too." The teachers have become choosy and at times sifarish of bigwigs becomes imperative for a seat in these coaching centres. "We have to produce good results to attract more students or we are doomed," explained Rajesh Singla, who runs an academy in botany.

On an average, 150-200 students in different batches are imparted coaching daily for Rs 10,000-Rs 12,000 per course. The influx of students has led to the paying guest culture in the town. Also, hostels have came up in every nook and corner of the town. The owners charge Rs 3,000-Rs 4,000 per student per month for three meals a day and accommodation. This, in turn, has led to the opening of dhabas. As many as 30 families have begun tiffin services, each catering to 100-150 clients, mostly students staying as paying guests.

The tuition business has also boosted the sale of Kinetic and Honda two-wheelers in a big way. Most academies in Punjab as well as in Chandigarh have air-conditioned rooms and compared to school classrooms, they offer utter luxury. Says N.P. Singh, one of the directors of BRC in Sector 19, Chandigarh, "It’s sheer madness, running after private academies. Teachers operate in connivance with schools. It is nothing but criminalisation of education. Doctors are to be blamed. They are hell-bent on securing a seat for their wards in medical colleges, no matter what the price." The institute has 500 students for PMT/ CET and 15 for IAS exams. It also runs classes in computer software.

"Now all has slipped into the hands of market forces. Most teachers opening institutes have opted for businessmen as partners due to the money factor." Another academy run by Dr Khera in Chandigarh has 50-60 part-time teachers on the faculty.

The growth of the Chitkara Institute, Sector 9, is a pointer to this trend. The Chitkara Institute of Technology on the Rajpura-Zirakpur road is affiliated to Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar. Juxtaposed with the city teachers are those in government schools in rural areas who have been holding protests in Nawanshahr, Fazilka and Mansa for non-payment of salaries.

The higher education scenario is equally dismal. The Human Resource Development Ministry recently set the target of raising the percentage of those in higher education from 6 per cent to 13 per cent. In response, the UGC (University Grants Commission) directed the universities to expand their reach through distance learning. The universities, instead of opening study centres, decided to give franchises to certain institutes for a considerable sum. The result is that franchises have been given to institutes with poor infrastructure and staff on monetary considerations alone. Quality education has been the casualty. A college in Ludhiana is affiliated to six universities!

Says Vice-Chancellor S.P. Singh of Guru Nanak Dev University: "The government is cutting aid to universities every year. They are left to raise their own resources. One way of fetching money is through the franchise system."

"However, I do concede that ‘deemed’ universities and these franchises will one day drown the voice of government universities and dilute education standards."

To add to this turmoil are foreign universities. According to sources, the HRD Ministry has tightened screws on at least 20 universities, most of them from Australia. These have been found to be of poor academic standard, minting money at the cost of unsuspecting Indian students.

With universities making a business of the franchise system, numerous technical institutes have come up in the countryside, e.g. Reyat and Doaba on the Ropar-Nawanshahr road and Lovely and Tara Institutes on the Phagwara-Jalandhar road.

In fact, the proprietor of the Lovely Institute of Technology and the Lovely Institute of Management is the owner of a chain of sweets and auto shops in Jalandhar! The institutes are affiliated to Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar, which has lowered its admission percentage to a mere 35 per cent to attract students.

Armed with a degree yet ill-equipped to meet the challenge of globalisation, most students from these ITIs are unlikely to get any meaningful employment. This is almost certain to create frustration and social tensions. The ramifications can be sinister. With the government washing its hands off education slowly but surely, market forces are certain to take over, seriously endangering quality education. There is no time for lethargy. If steps are to be taken to put the education system back on the rails, it is now or never.