East to West; urban and rural: The rise of private coaching in India

Tripura leads in share of students in parallel schooling system but participation is low in Rajasthan

Private tutoring, or coaching, to assist struggling students has turned into a parallel system of school learning as families press their children for success in academics and competitive exams.

 

A striking trend is how rapidly primary-class students, who are six to 11 years old, are being enrolled for coaching: participation increased from 16.4 per cent in 2017-18 to 22.9 per cent in 2024-25 according to two separate reports by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. Middle-school participation climbed from 21.9 per cent to 29.6 per cent, while at the secondary level it rose from 30.2 per cent to 37.8 per cent. As many as 37 per cent of higher-secondary students take private coaching, compared to 27.5 per cent in 2017-18. Age is no bar to join private coaching hordes. 

 

Rural India is catching up. Female participation in private coaching there increased from 16.5 per cent to 25 per cent, almost closing the gap with rural males, who went from 17.9 per cent to 26 per cent. At the aggregate level, rural participation has grown faster (17.3 per cent in 2017-18 to 25.5 per cent in 2024-25) than urban participation (26 per cent to 30.7 per cent). There are more urban students in coaching — males at 32.4 per cent and females at 28.8 per cent — but demand is expanding more strongly in rural areas. 

 

Eastern and northeastern states lead in private coaching participation. As many as 78.6 per cent of school students take private coaching in Tripura; 77.8 per cent in Manipur; and 74.6 per cent in West Bengal. They are followed by Odisha (57.1 per cent) and Bihar (52.5 per cent). This cluster likely reflects both cultural emphasis on education and intense academic competition. Rajasthan, home to Kota, the country’s best-known coaching hub, has just 7.2 per cent of students taking coaching. Southern states, celebrated for their schooling systems, also record relatively low levels of coaching.