India, May 21 -- Before Kota, there was Latur. The mid-sized Marathwada town, twice ravaged by earthquakes, rebuilt its equity as one of Maharashtra's biggest coaching centres with "The Latur pattern" that attracted thousands of students across the state. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Maharashtra state board had a merit list which was invariably stacked with students from Latur division.

Educationists from the city like Dr Janardan Waghmare and Aniruddha Jadhav and institutions such as Dayanand Education Society, Rajarshi Shahu College and Dayanand College created a system of rigorous high school and +2 education that focused on training students for various engineering and medical entrance exams.

"This Latur brand developed over almost 4...