Letters: Rectify the system first

With reference to the editorial, "A risky move" (December 8), this is not the first time that the private coaching industry in India has come under the scanner, nor will it be the last time.

Undoubtedly, suggestions made by the panel headed by Ashok Misra in this regard are worth noticing, but as rightly suggested by the editorial, the bigger problem is addressing the loopholes and weaknesses in our school education system.

Until and unless we have addressed these, private coaching will continue to flourish. Why can't teachers whose students at coaching centres do well in their exams produce similar results from their classes at school, where they draw their main salary ? Two factors are responsible for this: first, the money a teacher gets from the school is peanuts compared to what he or she makes at the coaching centre; second, the teacher is aware that no matter how well he or she teaches at school, parents will invariably send their children to coaching centres.

Marketing plays a huge role in our society in every sphere. When parents see a full-page advertisement in a national daily featuring a specific coaching centre with "data" to showcase their "success rate" at IITs - many a time the same candidate appears in multiple advertisements by different coaching centres - they are bound to get influenced.

They will then do anything to send their wards to those coaching centres. Thus the problem lies with our mindset too. We need to assess our children's capability well before throwing them into the rat race.

Bal Govind, Noida
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