One-third school students take private coaching, trend more common in urban areas: Centre’s survey

Nearly one-third of school students take private coaching and the trend is more common in urban areas, Centre’s Comprehensive Modular Survey (CMS) on education has found.

The survey noted that government schools play a pivotal role in providing education across India, accounting for 55.9 per cent of total enrolments.

“It is higher in rural areas, where two-thirds (66.0 per cent) of students are enrolled, in comparison to urban areas (30.1 per cent). The private unaided (recognised) schools account for 31.9 per cent of enrolment nationwide,” the survey report said.

The CMS Education survey, part of the 80th round of National Sample Survey (NSS), focused specifically on household expenditure for currently enrolled students in school education. Data was collected from 52,085 households and 57,742 students across India using Computer-Assisted Personal Interviews (CAPI).

The survey noted that nearly a third of all students (27.0 per cent), were taking or had taken private coaching during the current academic year. This trend was more common in urban areas (30.7 per cent) than in rural areas (25.5 per cent).

The average annual household expenditure on private coaching per student in urban areas (Rs 3,988) was higher than that in rural areas (Rs 1,793).

“This difference increases with the level of education. In urban areas, average spending on private coaching at the higher secondary level (Rs 9,950) is significantly higher than in rural areas (Rs 4,548). Nationally, coaching costs rise with each education level, from Rs 525 for pre-primary to Rs 6,384 for higher secondary,” it said.

Among the students who made expenditures for school education, 95 per cent of students in India reported that the first major source of their funding was from other household members. This trend is consistent across both rural (95.3 per cent) and urban (94.4 per cent) areas. In India, 1.2 per cent of students reported that Government scholarships were their first major source of funding for school education.

The last comprehensive education survey undertaken by National Sample Survey (NSS) was the 75th Round (July 2017–June 2018).

However, officials said, its findings cannot be directly compared with those of the current survey.

“In the NSS 75th round, anganwadi centres were not classified under pre-primary education and expenditures on school education included private coaching. However, CMS: E classified anganwadis within the pre-primary category and collected and presented spending on school education and private coaching separately,” a senior Ministry of Education (MoE) official explained.

The primary objective of CMS was to generate national-level estimates of average expenditure on school education and private coaching during the current academic year.

Across all types of schools, the highest average expenditure per student during the current academic year was on course fees (Rs 7,111), followed by textbooks and stationery (Rs 2,002) at the all-India level.

“The urban households are paying significantly more across all categories. Notably, the average expenditure on course fees in urban areas was estimated at Rs 15,143, whereas it was estimated at Rs 3,979 in rural areas. This trend of higher expenditure in urban areas is also evident for other types of education-related expenses like transportation, uniforms, and textbooks,” the survey report said.