How Indian schools’ focus on entrance tests is stunting education

When Sahaya Teresa’s son, Kevin Santiago, completed his Class 10 studies four years ago, she decided that he needed to change schools.

This was because Santiago aspired to become a doctor and wanted coaching specifically to appear for the intensely competitive National Eligibility Entrance Test for admission to undergraduate medical degree programmes.

While some students enroll in both regular schools and separate coaching programmes, Teresa worried that such an approach might be too much of a burden on her son. So, she began to look for schools that had arrangements with coaching institutes to offer training for the test along with their regular curriculum.

“I was determined that my son should have a holistic school experience,” she said. “So, I felt that if I admit him to a school that has both regular classes as well as coaching classes, he will not miss out on anything that other students in regular schools experience.”

Teresa enrolled her son in a school that fell under the Central Board for Secondary Education and was also affiliated with one of the most prominent coaching institutes in the country.

But she was in for a shock. The school was nothing like they had expected.

Rather than offer an integrated programme, it separated students into two groups: those...

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