Amid curfew, testing times for Chandigarh’s coaching centres

In the absence of student fees, coaching institutes in Chandigarh are struggling to pay rent and staff salaries.

Often compared to Rajasthan’s Kota, Chandigarh with its 70-odd coaching institutes is catering to the dreams and aspirations of over 20,000 students flocking here from all across the region to train for competitive exams. But, within one month of the nationwide lockdown amid the coronavirus outbreak, the coaching institutes are finding it hard to sustain themselves.

Normally, coaching institutes have completed new enrolments by this time of the year and classes are in full swing. (Keshav Singh/HT)

“If the lockdown is prolonged, there will be no classroom admissions this year. This will impact our revenue greatly and it will be difficult to maintain infrastructure and salary of the employees,” said Arvind Goyal, a NEET trainer based in the city, adding that at this time of the year, new batches are finalised and classes are running in full swing.

Apart from Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) for engineering and architecture colleges, National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) for medical colleges, Chandigarh also offers training in exams for banking, civil services, Combined Defence Services (CDS), National Defence Academy (NDA) and Services Selection Board (all three for the armed forces), Combined Admission Test (CAT) for graduate management programmes, Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) for science and engineering courses, International English Language Testing System (IELTS) for international studies, work or migration, and Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) for admission in English-speaking institutes abroad.

Vinay Makin of Allen Career Institute, Sector 34, said, “Although the landlords have given us relaxation in rent payment, which is ₹45 lakh per month for our Sector 34 centre, most coaching institutes still have to pay the full rent, which is ostensibly a Herculean task.”

While there are fewer enrolments due to the lockdown, Makin said they had offered students the option to pay fees in more instalments. “Normally, students pay their fees on a quarterly basis, but now we have broken it down further,” he added.

STAFF SALARIES SLASHED, DELAYED

The economic impact of the coaching institutes’ closure has also trickled down to the tutors.

“For March, I was paid ₹34,000 against my salary of ₹50,000. I am told, the arrears will be cleared when the lockdown is over,” said a tutor, requesting anonymity.

She said as a permanent employee, she was fortunate to be still receiving her salary, while the contractual and third-party staff were not being paid at all.

“Our hands are tied in the absence of students’ fee,” said Kuldeep Singh of Zetta Career Institute, Sector 34, while accepting they had problems paying salaries even in March.

LIVELIHOOD OF MANY AT STAKE

Not just teachers, several others dependent on coaching institutes to make a living have also been left in the lurch. In Sector 34, numerous booksellers, stationery shops, fast food joints and paying guest accommodations thrive on coaching institutes year long.

Sumant Kumar, who has been running a food stall in Sector 34 for a decade, said, “These are unprecedented times. Our shops have been closed for over a month. How will my family survive if the lockdown continues?”