patna, June 12 -- Iconic educator and famed academician Prof HC Verma has been an ardent critic of the coaching industry. It is because, he believes, the coaching culture has harmed the students in multiple ways. It lures them to short-cuts that do not exist, he avers. "Frankly speaking I cannot fathom how a so-called teacher can teach a batch of 500 to 1,000 or 2,000 students. I always give the example of the 'ranker and banker' concept that the coaching institutes thrive on. For example, out of 2,500 students enrolled, 30-40 are those who have the potential of reaching anyway closer to the mark. The institutes provide them free education and publicise their results, while the rest are those who pay to be herded and are forgotten after failure, only to slip into distress and depression," he added. Verma said that the unfortunate part was the huge social cost involved, as the students gained nothing and were drained physically, mentally and financially, and developed low esteem due to unmatched aspirations of the parents. "By the time they are jolted out of their slumber and step out of the make-believe world, they realise they have lost their precious time and their dreams have also lost," he added. Verma, however, said that small tuition classes handling 20-40 students could be useful for students, as they were focussed. "But organised institutes are causing irreparable damage, as they make the already crumbling school and college systems totally collapse. There is a new tendency of parents to push their children to coaching from Class 6 onwards, while the fact is that the short cuts are a sure shot for long term pain. The growing suicides in IITs and other institutions are also attributed to quest for overnight success," he added. Verma said that any law would be as good as its implementation. "With corruption, the impact gets significantly diluted. I hope those who passionately want education reforms, social workers, spiritual heads with huge fan following should take up this pious cause to check the malaise, which will engulf generations due to unrealistic dependence on coaching institutes. The government should also work on closing the gap between universities' output and demands of competitive exams. The victims should know they are being exploited. The purpose of education is to make students explore, become self-reliant, not get everything ready made in capsules. The Internet and YouTube offer a lot of resources," the professor added....