Monday, 05 July 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
Despite the recent approval of the State government to run the coaching classes with fifty per cent occupancy for students aged above 18 years, the students are still reluctant to return to the coaching centres. According to the coaching centres operators, parents and students are still hesitant about joining physical classes due to Covid-19, especially due to the possibility of a third wave.
The chief executive officer (CEO) of Achieverz Classes, Manu Pant said that parents are concerned about their children’s safety and avoiding sending them for physical coaching classes even when they are above 18 years. Since the State government has not allowed physical classes in schools yet considering the risk of Covid-19, people will remain hesitant to send their grown-up children for physical coaching classes too, stated Pant. However, the managing director of VR Classes, Vaibhav Rai said that students who are serious about cracking their exams are approaching the coaching centres for physical classes. According to him, most of the students who prepare for competitive exams in coaching centres belong to remote areas of the State and a full-fledged online session of several hours is not possible with them due to issues like bad internet connection or insufficient means to study through online classes. “What a student can learn by directly interacting with its teacher cannot be taught through online classes,” opined Rai. He also said that many students also arrive in Dehradun from other cities of neighbouring states but due to the rule of bringing a negative RT-PCR report, many are having problems in returning back here for coaching classes. On the other hand, Manu Pant from Achieverz Classes said that students are getting comfortable with online classes rather than risking their health due to Covid. However, he said that the sudden increase in the online education system has also increased the competition for regional coaching centres because now the students have the choice to study from any coaching centre across the country that provides online classes. He also informed that parents pay less for the online session compared to the physical classes. Since the big coaching institutions that function nationwide have lowered their fees for online sessions, parents are reluctant to pay the usual fees to the local coaching centres, disclosed Pant. However, he termed this situation a short term apprehension and said that within six months or one year, the situation will return to normal if the Covid situation doesn’t worsen in the State.
Shubham Nautiyal, the general secretary of Uttarakhand Coaching and Library Association (UCLA) also said that students have not joined the coaching classes yet but they will soon do as application forms of many competitive exams have been issued. He said that since most of the students live in mountainous areas of the State, it might take some time for them to arrive here. Nautiyal also said that this year has been quite hard for coaching centres as many have shut down their centres due to instability during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Talking about precautions in the coaching centres, he said that though all the coaching centres are not running physical classes, those which are currently functioning are following all the norms from keeping sufficient distance among students and faculties to using masks and sanitisers. He added that all the coaching classes will be functional soon in the city as per the arrival of students.
