Everyone taught Tanisha: Why the same topper’s face appears on multiple coaching centre ads

On a Wednesday morning in the first week of September, Aarav, a 10th standard student, saw a coaching institute’s advertisement on the front page of a national newspaper.

The coaching institute claimed in the ad that Tanisha Mehta (name changed), an all-India topper in the medical entrance exam NEET, was its student. Aarav was baffled.

A day before, his coaching institute had proudly promoted the same topper as its student. Curious, he Googled Tanisha Mehta’s name. He found that at least three institutes claimed Tanisha was their student.

An aspiring doctor preparing for the crucial NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test), Aarav didn’t want to take any chances. He asked his father to enrol him with another tuition centre, thinking that one needs to be associated with more than one coaching institute for better results.
His father, too, was surprised and did his own research. Turned out everyone taught Tanisha, albeit in different ways.

One coaching centre told him that Tanisha took the test series from them and that’s how she became their student. He was also informed that whenever they promote such students as their alumni, they carry a small clarification that mentions these details.

Another coaching institute said Tanisha took content from them and that’s how she became their student. Aarav’s father finally found the centre where she took classes when its spokesperson said they promoted her as a ‘classroom student’ on every banner and billboard.

Initially, just as Aarav and his father discovered, it would appear that these were straightforward arrangements between students and coaching centres. But there’s more to it than meets the eye.

Some are tricked

As soon as admission season kicks off, hundreds of coaching centres across the country start knocking on the doors of millions of students. They usually track students from grade 8 and have a database ready with them. The centres then take a call on how to pitch their courses and other offerings and to whom.

“When educators are told to talk to parents and students at the time of admissions because they have all the data with them, they can pitch various offerings in a customised manner. While this may sound normal as if they are just working with data, the way they paint a rosy picture in front of students and parents, anyone would say yes to whatever they are offering,” an educator said.

Another educator requesting anonymity said a good chunk of aspirants for the Indian Institutes of Technology and medical colleges come from tier 2 and lower towns and have lower exposure to the competitive world. In 2018, about 52,400 candidates appeared for tests in Patna, the second-highest after New Delhi, followed by Kota in fourth place.

The educator added it is thus easier to trick such students and parents into buying offerings of more than one coaching centre. He said coaching institutes usually target school toppers as they are more likely to get into the country’s best engineering and medical colleges.

He shared an anecdote from a couple of years ago, just before the pandemic. A student from Jabalpur had enrolled with one of Kota’s most famous education centres. She was a ‘classroom student’ of that centre.

Just before her classes started, she had stepped out of her hostel room in Kota to buy books. On her way, a counsellor from another coaching institute bumped into her and pitched their content to her. He showed her examples of some previous toppers who had used their content.

“Now just before your classes start, you are all motivated and at that time if someone pitches you something, you often tend to buy that. These are all known strategies and that’s how they do it,” the educator said. “She was a school topper and got 94 percent in 10th standard. So these classes know whom to target and how to do it. She eventually managed to get a very high rank in NEET and so both the classes were able to promote her.”

Bribery charges

While some are tricked into buying courses, some are allegedly bribed to do that. Many coaching institutes target the brightest school students across the country and start chasing them even before they start applying for coaching classes.

Moreover, to get into some of the country’s most-famous coaching centres, one must appear for entrance tests. The entrance test results are shared internally between various centres, which then make a list of toppers based on it.

If a topper has joined centre A after getting good marks in the entrance test, he or she will be targeted by another coaching centre selling at least one of their offerings to the student. However, if these centres can’t persuade the student into buying their offerings, they offer sweeteners, ranging from a few lakh rupees to expensive cars.

“Earlier, these amounts used to be given in cash but as things progressed, over the last few years, students are either given gifts like cars or expensive vacation packages,” said a brand manager of a tuition centre in Kota, requesting anonymity.

In one instance, the older brother of a student was asked to work as an admissions manager for a coaching centre for three months and the ‘gift’ amount was transferred to him as a salary bonus, the brand manager added.

Another educator said parents do not find anything wrong with this because they treat it as their child’s first income for his or her hard work.

Further, parents pay lakhs of rupees as tuition fees and they feel it is okay to take such gifts, the educator added. Typically, annual fees range from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh.

In some cases, coaching centres also allegedly paid students after the results to pose publicly as their alumni.

“As soon as the IIT-JEE results used to come, people would stand in front of the rooms of these students with money. I was so shocked. It completely disillusioned me,” said the ex-cofounder of one of India’s largest coaching institutes. “Many companies would run after them. They would call it scholarships. And parents would accept it, giving permission to these companies to show them as a part of their programme. There is a term for it – buying ranks.”

Some are forced

If you thought all this happens before admissions or after results, you would be off the mark. During the academic year, students appear for several mock tests at their respective centres. The results of these tests are shared internally between centres, just as entrance exam results are shared.
Other coaching classes get to know which students are likely to top IIT-JEE tests or NEET. These centres keep tabs on the students’ daily activities and try to bribe them or trick them into buying their offerings.

“The competition among these classes has gone up tremendously over the last few years and with newer companies also coming in, the fight for students is of paramount importance,” said a person close to a renowned educator in Kota. “If we can claim the toppers, we are able to attract students for next year. The greater number of toppers we claim, the more admissions we get.”

Citing an example of a rival coaching class forcing one of its toppers to buy a distance learning programme during the academic year, the person said the student was shot on camera smoking. The student was told that if he didn’t buy their programme, the picture would go to his parents. The student eventually bought the course.

It also adds to the burden on students, who are already reeling from performance and societal pressure.

To be sure, these coaching centres have played a crucial role in shaping the careers of millions of teenagers across the country. But over the years, competition has intensified and the motive has shifted from ‘teaching’ to ‘earning,’ said one of Kota’s veteran educators.

“People should realise that tuition classes only care about the money they make. And they’re willing to do anything by hook or crook to get it. The big tragedy is that now, thanks to the billions of dollars which these startups are pumping into the system, this thing is going to get 100 times worse,” said Aniruddha Malpani, an angel investor and founder of Malpani Ventures, who is a vociferous critic of aggressive selling by edtech companies.

Moneycontrol wrote to 11 education companies including edtech unicorns Vedantu, Unacademy and Byju’s-owned Aakash, seeking their official comments for the story. Unacademy declined to comment. No other company responded.