Punjab govt residential schools demand offline coaching for JEE, NEET

Currently, the students are provided online coaching classes through recorded lectures under the umbrella of the Punjab Academic Coaching for Excellence programme and the SATHEE portal

For the preparation of competitive examinations, like the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), students of Class 12 of the science stream at the Senior Secondary School for Meritorious demand offline coaching classes instead of online.

A Class 12 medical student of Meritorious School mentioned that the students of the commerce stream are provided with offline coaching from the beginning of the session. (HT File)

Currently, the students are provided online coaching classes through recorded lectures under the umbrella of the Punjab Academic Coaching for Excellence (PACE) programme and the SATHEE (Self Assessment Test and Help for Entrance Exams) portal.

A member of the Meritorious Teachers Union, Punjab, said the real-time benefit of these online classes for science students, aspiring to join the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), National Institute of Technology (NIT) and AIIMS, is nearly zilch. “The students have approached us a lot many times to further the request for offline classes by the educators of competitive examinations and we have forwarded the demand too but nothing has been done so far,” he added.

A Class 12 medical student of Meritorious School mentioned that the students of the commerce stream are provided with offline coaching from the beginning of the session. “The students of private schools who can afford expensive coaching classes prepare for more than two years, which is an appropriate time for the preparation of such examinations due to their competitive nature. The classes for the same have still not been started for us and might not begin for one more month. Where other students who would be competing with us are already halfway, we have not even begun,” the student added.

Another teacher said, “The students in these residential schools do not have smartphones, thus they do not have the liberty of rewatching the recorded lectures whenever in doubt. We show them these on the projectors and then elaborate and explain them to the students but we are not trained for providing competitive coaching. They need regular offline sessions with the professional educators of coaching institutes.”

Assuring the initiation of offline classes for science students, Balwinder Saini, assistant project director of the meritorious society, said, “Tenders were invited to provide offline classes for science students but due to the model code of conduct in force, the process has been halted.” He added that the project for providing two-year coaching instead of one is also in the pipeline.