A surfeit of information has changed the way we perceive and learn. However, be it family or peer pressure, the need to excel, even against odds, has pushed every child to the limit. If class-rooms are not delivering for a host of reasons, what can a student do? Look for professional coaching centres? Gone are the days when we used to read good text books, understand long passages and seek out answers, to intelligently posed questions. These are days of packaged and capsuled learning. Examinations challenge only the memory cells with rote learning sucking out the fun from learning. Reasons are many. Massive expansion, need to reach out to everyone, lack of teachers both in quality and quantity and inadequate infrastructure are some of them.
A 2022 report of the UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS), says India requires a whopping 1.2 million more teachers to meet the current shortfall. Even as the Ministry of Education has a Parents-Teacher Ratio (PTR) for primary classes of 30:1 and for upper primary classes at 35:1, some popular private schools have a better PTR. Further, ASSOCHAM reports that many experienced teachers of reputed private schools and colleges leave their jobs to take up private coaching.
Our higher education institutions fare no better. A 30% to 50% short fall even in some of the best centrally funded institutions, has pushed the student community to find alternative learning in private coaching centres. Even as we grapple with shortage of good teachers, the competitive examinations held annually for engineering and medical studies stress the children and parents even more. Admissions to the 23 IIT’s, 13 AIIMS and a host of other important institutes is only getting more severe each year. In order to make it to the best, children go through the grill in so-called professional coaching centres. Parents too endure the pressure only to see their wards succeed.
The current market revenue of the coaching industry in India is Rs 58,088 crore. Its growth is projected to reach Rs 1,33,995 crores by 2028. It grew at a staggering 30% to 35% in last few years. A survey by National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) states that one out of every four take private tuitions. Classroom coaching, small study groups, one-on-one home tuition and online live/content are its manifestations though online tutoring is yet to make a felt presence with 96% of the students preferring face to face tutoring.
Online content and live tutoring business is pegged at just Rs.4000 crore in a 1.3 Lakh Crore industry. With growing internet penetration in both urban and rural households, this market could change soon. However, effective interactive content will need domain experts who are strong communicators, are comfortable with technology and are performers.
The regulatory space in higher education has seen some phenomenal changes in recent times. Instead of attending a single institution, students can receive credit in multiple ways, including dual-degree programs, skill-based courses, online providers and from multiple universities. This will require colleges to be more nimble, entrepreneurial, student-focused, and accountable. The question however, is if they are game in the face of a coaching onslaught.
We will need new business models if private coaching and online education were to come together. A flexible personalized platform connecting students to tutors, use of Analytics and AI to make learning effective and credible, along with credentials-based evaluation will be required. Online tutoring platforms where lessons are conducted via video chat and a virtual whiteboard with file sharing functions by various tutors / experts, will probably be the future. Even sessions and specific questions that a student may have could be targeted at a favourite teacher.
How could this paradigm evolve? Various tutors in different subject domains list their services on the platform and students select one who best suits their needs akin to various vehicles registering with travel aggregators like OLA, UBER or home aggregators like Airbnb. Students will have the option to leave feedback or a review on their tutor’s online profile. This is the future disruptor in the billion-dollar coaching markets. Expanding the possibilities, if one could build a model that provides personalised learning online, be it as coaching or for competitive examinations, or for value added courses for working professionals, it could be the game changer.