Telangana: Coaching culture affecting kids health

Hyderabad: A photograph of a math academy in Hyderabad went viral as the board displayed outside the academy said that the math coaching classes will be held for students from UKG to 10th standard. Educational experts in the state questioned the need for extra classes for students as young as five-years-old; many spoke about how the coaching culture was affecting the students’ mental and physical health.

Swati Reddy, a member of Save Education Society said, “It was recently announced that the hours of coaching classes should be reduced as the number of student suicides is high in Telangana. Similarly a minimum age should also be set for attending extra coaching classes. It is really stressful for students to attend coaching classes after regular school hours and at a young age, that extra burden should not be placed on them.”

The spokesperson for the Math academy, A Ushasri said, “Students are taught basic mathematics like counting in school which we continue in coaching classes. We teach them how to count and other basics. Maths is also a part of their curriculum and we have 10 children enrolled in the batch.”

Educational experts have often stated that the basics of mathematics were earlier practised at home, but the rat race in education is what is leading to tuition at such a young age. “It is not only competition but also profitable to the academies who take coaching classes for young children.”