Why coaching capital Kota has failed its entrance test
₹2,500 a day ferrying students in Kota, a city in Rajasthan that has earned fame as the nerve centre of India’s entrance exam-preparation industry. And, if he managed to get a student placed in a hostel, the owner paid him a commission of ₹500. But today all that has changed and his daily take has plunged.
Recently, however, Ali had a lucky break. “I managed to get one student into a hostel and the owner gave me a commission of ₹6,000," he told Mint. Apparently, it was the first new admission in months at the facility and the owner was very grateful.
That good fortune aside, Ali thinks it will be a while before he manages to make another placement. “The hostel owners want us to get more students, but where do we get them from if no one is willing to come to Kota," he wondered. At Chavi Medical, a pharmacy on an arterial road in Kota flanked by study centres, the boy at the counter echoed Ali’s sentiments, albeit through a different lens.
“If there are no students, who will suffer from dengue, malaria, fever and cold? How will this medical shop run?" he asked, making it clear that as far as he is concerned, ill-health is wealth. Kota, which welcomed aspiring pupils from every corner of the country for years, is today a shadow of its former self. Gone are the lakhs of hunched students jostling with bags and umbrellas with the names of the institutes emblazoned on them.
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