The Indian education system, once envisioned to shape thinkers, inventors, and leaders, now finds itself lost in a maze of diluted syllabi, rote learning, exam-driven strategies, and coaching dependencies. Each year, boards like CBSE and various state boards quietly reduce portions of the curriculum. Chapters are chopped, complex concepts omitted, and the pressure to simplify grows stronger. On the surface, it appears as reform — an attempt to make learning more accessible. But in truth, it's a slow decoration of a dead system, a corpse made to look alive with makeup and lighting.
Children today aren’t being taught how to think — they’re being trained how to pass. Critical thinking, reasoning, and creativity are replaced by checkboxes and expected answers. Schools no longer demand understanding; they reward memorization. And over time, this mechanical repetition becomes the norm. Success is measured not in knowledge, but in numbers printed on a marksheet.
Board Exams Are No Longer a Real Test
Gone are the days when school examinations were an intellectual challenge. Today, even an average student can revise for a month and emerge with 90% or more. The questions asked are repetitive, predictable, and often so shallow that answering them feels more like completing a rhyme than engaging with content. The grading system, too, seems designed more to inflate egos than to reflect actual learning.
The result is a generation that grows up believing they are ‘toppers,’ not realizing their excellence is manufactured. This creates a dangerous illusion — an illusion of competence that shatters violently when students step outside the soft walls of their school and enter the ruthless reality of competitive exams.
The Ruthless Contrast of Competitive Exams
The jump from school boards to competitive exams is brutal. While school education has been diluted, competitive exams have evolved into mental battlegrounds. JEE, NEET, UPSC — these are no longer just exams. They are endurance tests that demand deep thinking, disciplined learning, and relentless effort. Every year, their difficulty increases, and with it, the demand for speed, clarity, and accuracy.
Unfortunately, students are not prepared for this level of challenge. After years of surface-level schooling, they are suddenly thrown into deep waters. They have never been taught to swim — only to wade through shallow puddles. And in this sudden transition, most of them begin to sink. Their school textbooks never warned them of this depth. Their 90% marks never prepared them for real problem-solving. They feel betrayed, lost, and overwhelmed.
The Rise of Coaching as a Survival Necessity
This is where coaching enters the scene — not as a supplement, but as salvation. Coaching institutes are no longer optional; they’ve become essential. When schools fail to provide competitive readiness, coaching centers become the actual educators. This parallel education economy has grown because the formal system has collapsed under its own weight.
Dummy schools — institutions that exist only on paper while students spend their days in coaching — have become common. Parents knowingly enroll their children, not for education but for documentation. Everyone knows the real learning is happening in Kota, in Hyderabad, in the basements and rooftops of Tier-1 cities. And coaching centers, with their mass-produced notes, predictive strategies, and carefully timed tests, have become the new temples of hope.
Parents have stopped asking, “Is my child learning?” They now ask, “Which coaching should I invest in?” For them, success is not about understanding but about cracking. And coaching institutions, ever efficient and business-minded, know exactly how to deliver results — not knowledge.
Schools Are Now a Formality, Not a Foundation
Today’s schools resemble administrative hubs more than learning centers. Attendance records, exam schedules, PTMs, holiday circulars — these have replaced curiosity, experimentation, and growth. Teachers are underpaid and overburdened, often forced to follow a rigid syllabus without space for interpretation or innovation.
Meanwhile, students attend schools only because they have to. They’re mentally checked out, knowing that real preparation begins after 2 PM when coaching starts. The classroom has lost its sanctity, and the textbook its authority. A child who raises a question is seen as a disruption. A student who wants to explore is labeled as “not focused.” And slowly, generation after generation, children stop asking questions altogether.
The Dangerous Mindset of “Job-Oriented Education”
At the root of this decay lies a dangerous belief — that education’s only purpose is a job. When education becomes job-centric, it automatically becomes narrow. Instead of cultivating intelligence, it starts manufacturing obedience. Children are not taught to think — they’re taught to follow instructions. They aren’t trained to lead — they’re programmed to fit in.
This ‘naukri mindset’ is like a slow poison. It convinces parents that only government jobs are safe. It convinces students that their life is a failure if they don’t “crack” something. And it convinces schools that their job is not to inspire but to prepare students for a placement. The result? A population that knows how to compete but not how to contribute.
We’re raising young minds not to create but to comply. Not to question but to qualify. Not to seek wisdom, but to secure a salary. It’s a crisis of vision that’s turning a whole generation into task-completing machines rather than dream-chasing individuals.
What Happens to the Student in Between?
Caught in this chaos is the student — alone, confused, and stretched from all sides. On one end, their school expects them to tick boxes and get marks. On the other end, their coaching demands 12-hour days, weekly tests, and flawless accuracy. Somewhere in the middle, the student loses their own identity.
They are not allowed to be curious, not allowed to rest, not allowed to fail. They are expected to be productive 24/7, expected to crack every exam, expected to carry the dreams of an entire family. But no one asks them what they want. No one asks them what excites them, what they fear, or what they imagine when they close their eyes.
And so, we end up producing young adults who are burnt out at 17, anxious by 18, and disillusioned by 22. By the time they enter the job market, they’re exhausted. Not because they’ve worked, but because they’ve spent years carrying expectations they never chose.
Education Is Not Just a Strategy for Exams
The fundamental problem lies in our definition of education. We’ve reduced it to a toolkit — a set of strategies to clear exams. But education is not just about answers; it’s about understanding. It’s not about marksheets; it’s about meaning. True education empowers students to think independently, to engage with the world, to innovate, to empathize, and to create change.
When we shift focus solely to outcomes — to cracking NEET, or getting into IIT, or becoming an IAS officer — we forget the inner journey. We forget that a curious child is more valuable than a compliant one. We forget that a young thinker, even with fewer marks, is more likely to change the world than a topper who only followed instructions.
The Way Forward: Breaking the Cycle
If we are to rebuild our education system, we must begin by redefining success. Success should not be restricted to government jobs or board percentages. It should include creativity, emotional intelligence, compassion, and clarity. Schools must be reimagined not as exam centers but as exploration spaces. Teachers must be empowered to innovate. Students must be encouraged to fail — because failure teaches more than easy success ever can.
Parents must stop seeing coaching notes as holy books. They must start asking their children what they learned instead of what they scored. And the society at large must stop glorifying “cracked exams” and start celebrating “curious minds.”
Until then, coaching centers will remain the de facto universities. Students will remain soldiers in an endless war of rankings. And education will remain a rehearsal — not for life, but for a test that never truly ends.
FAQs
Q: Why is there a growing gap between school education and competitive exams in India?
A: School curricula are increasingly simplified and focused on surface-level understanding, while competitive exams demand deep problem-solving, application, and time management. This disconnect leaves students unprepared for real-world challenges after school.
Q: Are coaching institutes replacing schools in India?
A: In many cases, yes. With schools unable to meet competitive exam standards, coaching institutes have taken over the responsibility of preparing students — not just for exams, but for their entire academic trajectory.
Q: Why do parents prioritize coaching over school learning?
A: Because coaching centers often produce tangible results (exam selections), while schools are seen as offering only formality. Coaching promises ranks, admissions, and jobs — which aligns with parents’ employment-focused mindset.
Q: What is the effect of a job-centric education system?
A: It limits creativity, discourages critical thinking, and trains students to chase marks and jobs instead of knowledge and purpose. This mindset fuels anxiety, peer pressure, and disillusionment among youth.
Q: Can the Indian education system be reformed?
A: Yes, but it requires systemic change — updated curricula, teacher empowerment, reduced exam obsession, inclusion of life skills, mental health education, and most importantly, redefining the purpose of education itself.
