Education was famously known as a recession-proof occupation until the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country in the month of March.
As the pandemic triggered lockdown has jolted the country’s economy, the private coaching centres which help prepare students for various competitive exams are also severely hit. Not only the new batches of students scheduled to begin in the months of April and May were halted but the classes of ongoing batches were also suspended due to the lockdown.
From huge financial losses to abrupt transition from conventional offline learning to online platforms, the coaching centres have faced a series of challenges over the past four months during the pandemic.
Every year, thousands of students from the city and neighboring states enroll themselves in private coaching institutions in Chandigarh to prepare for highly competitive exams like NEET,FIIT-JEE, NET, GATE, CA, CS, CLAT, UPSC among others.
The students’ enrollment has however declined by 50 to 70 percent due to the COVID-19 induced lockdown restrictions in the city.
KK Sharma, Director, Divine Group of Institutions, Chandigarh told The Pioneer, “The students’ intake in our various coaching academies during this session has declined by around 60 percent. The classes of batches which began in January were suspended due to the COVID-19 in March and the new batch scheduled to begin in May-June witnessed huge decline in students’ enrolment.”
Divine Group of Institutions in Sector 36 here is giving coaching for Civil Services exams, CLAT, Judiciary entrance exams and others. We have a team of 30-35 teachers and more than 400 students are enrolled for preparation of different entrance examinations, Sharma shared.
We, off course, faced many challenges in the past four months as our business was severely hit due to COVID-19. The transition from offline to online learning platforms was not easy at all.
It required additional expenses even as our revenue has decreased by around 40 percent.
E-learning posed a challenge to both teachers and students as both are at their native places and there remains a disparity in internet access, be it related to internet speed, electricity, availability of devices like computers, laptops or smartphones, he said.
Many entrance tests have been postponed and the situation remains uncertain. The students have to attend online classes for four-five hours every day and it is leading to health and psychological challenges for many of them, he added.
In terms of economic impact, Sharma said,
“It’s been more than four months now since the coaching institutions have not been opened. While we have moved to online classes, we still have to pay huge rent for existing facilities where classes used to be held before pandemic. We have to pay salaries to teachers also.”
With many students opting not to get enrolled in coaching centres and many others going back to their native place, most of the coaching institutions have reported 40 to 50 percent downfall in their businesses.
On an average, the coaching institutions charge yearly fees between Rs 70000 to Rs 1 lakh for various coaching programmes.
In Chandigarh, the school-going students and graduates from the city itself and neighboring states of Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal take admissions in various coaching centres every year. But when the country was placed under a lockdown in the month of March, the classes were postponed indefinitely and with partial lifting of restrictions later, thousands of students had returned to their home towns from the city.
Now, one of the biggest worries for the coaching institutions remains whether the students would return to the learning centres at all amid safety concerns due to COVID-19.
Jitain Gupta, Senior Manager, Allen Career Institute, Chandigarh said, “In our institution, the students’ enrolment has dropped by around 50 percent during this session. The admissions were in progress when the lockdown restrictions were imposed.”
“The Allen Institute is catering to the students from tricity, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh who have enrolled for the preparation of JEE, NEET and other competitive exams,” he said.
Notably, a curfew, which was imposed on March 24 in the city to ensure social distancing, was lifted on May 3 midnight by the Administration and a series of relaxations were announced under unlock 2.0 starting July 1 in Chandigarh. After this, the markets, offices, hospitality sector, religious places across the city have re-opened.
At present, there is a complete ban on academic, social, political, sports, entertainment, cultural, religious functions and other large congregations in the city, as per Government of India’s guidelines.
While the government’s bid to stem the spread of COVID-19 has ushered in a new era of e-learning, pushing both teachers and students out of their comfort zones, both are still struggling to make the online learning process efficient and effective.
Speaking about switching over to e-learning, Jitain said, “Fortunately, Allen Institution had already planned to start online classes so the transition from offline to online classes was not a difficult task for us. However, the students are yet not compatible with the e-learning process even as they have access to Zoom, Google and other online platforms.”
“As the e-learning is the only option now, we are trying to make the learning process easier for our students. Recorded lectures, both digital and printed study material is provided to the students and a live interactive session between students and teachers is held to clear their doubts. We are also holding parent-teacher meetings online to address the concerns of students and parents,” he added.
Sharing his experience, Tarun Garg, Managing Director, GATE Revolution Institute said, “The COVID-19 pandemic has proved to be an unprecedented game-changer in the education sector. With the transition into online teaching and learning mode, the coaching institutions are now faced with new challenges. Accountability and consistency is not easy to achieve in online mode as more than 50 percent students need an extra push to prepare for competitive exams.”
“We used to have 60 students in our offline batches which are reduced to 35 in online classes. Overall, our students’ enrolment has declined by about 70 percent due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.
The coaching institutions are severely hit due to pandemic and many are on the verge of shutdown, Tarun said while adding that the Union Government or local authorities should provide assistance to revive the education sector by giving moratoriums and interest free loans.