The story of Kota began when V.K Bansal, an engineer by profession quit his job and started teaching students at his home for entrance exams. One of his students cleared the IIT-JEE exam in 1985 and the history of Kota changed its path in a new direction. It was the beginning of Bansal classes, the first coaching of Kota.

Nowadays, around 2 lakh students come to Kota every year for coaching of JEE and NEET in different coaching centers. If you come to Kota, you will see the hoardings of many coaching centers like Allen, Resonance, Motion, Vibrant, Bansal, and so on. A few days ago, just after the covid phase, Ed-tech companies like Unacademy and Physicswallah added their names to the list of offline coaching.  

Growth of Ed-tech companies in India:

We all have seen phenomenal growth of Ed-tech companies in the last few years, especially in the covid period. Since march 2020, the number of students studying online increased by a large number because of the lockdown. Schools, Universities, and also coaching centers moved online because no other option was left. According to Economics time during this covid period, ed-tech companies created a $1.7 billion market.

The ed-tech companies got the benefit of their technology during the covid period, but the giant coaching centers were unable to get this benefit. So, most of the students enrolled in ed-tech companies for their JEE or NEET preparation.

Why Students come to Kota: 

If you watch the famous web series “Kota factory” then you must know this dialogue “Kota mahol deta hai”. It’s true, Kota gives the environment to the students. According to a report by The Print, the coaching industry of Kota impacts the lives of more than 2 lakh people in this city directly or indirectly, including its 3,000 hostels and 20,000 paying guest (PG) accommodation owners, local vendors, shopkeepers, mess staff, auto drivers and security guards.

The reasons why students come to Kota:

• Highly Qualified Faculties.

• Comparatively relaxed timing.

• A systematic approach to teaching

• Personalized doubt-solving classes.

• National level competition.

• AIR ranks from Kota coaching.

Let’s analyze online and offline classes from different perspectives:

• Interaction: In online classes, students are unable to interact with their teachers and classmates face to face.

• Flexibility: Students can gain flexibility in online coaching as they can study as per their schedule but in the case of offline coaching has a strict timetable that has to be followed by students.

• Discipline: Discipline is the most important thing for a student to secure a rank in a competitive exam. And the system of Kota provides that discipline to a serious student.

• Study Materials: All offline institutes offr printed study materials while only a few online ones do so.

• Motivation: Online Ed-tech coaching centers may make the students a bit less motivated to keep up with their study schedule. But offline coaching centers in Kota will not let the students lose their motivation since they will be physically present in the class and will have to follow a tight schedule.

• Rank: We all know this fact very well that offline coaching centers provide us with All India Ranks every year and also during this covid period. But Online classes are one step far from great ranks.

Offline Classes after Covid: 

The world has almost recovered from Covid and is prepared to fight against this kind of situation. The whole system is getting its actual form and the Education system is not an exception. Students prefer the ‘mahol’ of Kota better than online classes from home. Ed-tech companies know this fact as well. So, the leading ed-tech companies opened their offline classes in Kota to survive in the business of Competitive coaching centers.

According to a report, a Record number of students came to Kota this year and one big single institute in Kota holds around 1.25 lakh students this year. So, it is clear that students prefer offline education rather than online classes from Ed-tech companies.

The giant Ed-tech company Byju’s acquired Aakash Educational Services in a nearly $1-billion deal after covid because of the potential of offline education. And Ed-tech companies like Unacademy and Physics wallah opened their offline centers in Kota for the large number of students who want to learn offline. 

Conclusion:

Educational hub Kota is attracting Ed-Tech companies to open offline institute in Kota for their business growth but the path is not easy for the Ed-tech companies to compete with previously established giant offline institutions. So the new offline coaching companies are facing lot of challenges in Kota.

Article by Shahriar Alam