High demand for specialised coaching has led to mushrooming of coaching centres to prepare candidates for National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) in the city.
There were just four or five private coaching centres in the city, with the focus of moulding the students to crack NEET, until 2018. Realising the huge demand, new players, mostly some established teachers, forayed in the market by opening centres. Many tuition centres have been converted to NEET and Joint Entrance Examinations (JEE) coaching centres.
According to industry sources, the number of coaching centres has gone up to 40 to 45 in Tiruchi alone. There are centres in semi urban centres such as Manapparai and Thuraiyur. At least five centres in Tiruchi are part of a chain of centres in the State and national level. In Thillai Nagar alone, there are seven well-known centres.
In addition to them, most of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) affiliated schools have been giving specialised coaching to their students by involving some of the well-known coaching institutes. There are schools that focus mainly on moulding the students to crack NETT or JEE.
The institutes offer a variety of packages to suit the requirements of students and the affordability of parents. They offer weekend, weekday and residential packages to the students of State and Central boards. They charge between ₹50,000 to ₹1 lakh for year-long coaching.
Since the National Testing Agency (NTA) is scheduled to conduct the NEET examination on May 7, it is said that several institutes have begun to enrol MBBS aspirants for a crash course. Huge demand for quality coaching has resulted in the mushrooming of institutes.
According to sources, about 1.35 lakh students from different parts of the State appeared in NEET-2022. The number is expected to go up to 1.5 lakh this year. In Tiruchi alone, about 9,000 students are expected to sit for the NEET examination in May.
“There is a huge demand for qualitative teaching to prepare the students of cracking NEET. There is no sign of diminishing interest among parents and students on pursuing medicine. In such a scenario, it is quite understandable to see the growth of specialised institutes,” says R.V.S. Muralidhar, founder, “SEEKERS,” Tiruchi.
He said that more than 90% of the institutes still followed the rote learning method to score better marks. It might suit a few students. But it would not yield the expected results. Students had to be taught in such a way to understand the complexity of numerical methods and physics. The parents had to be wary of these aspects while selecting centres, Mr. Muralidhar added
