Though a college degree in India doesn't guarantee a successful career, students invest immense effort just to gain admission—primarily through highly competitive entrance exams.
Entrance exams are a major phenomenon in India. Depending on their field of interest, students prepare for specific exams tailored to certain colleges or professions. Many begin this preparation as early as higher secondary school.
From a business perspective, a whole ecosystem has evolved around these exams. Prominent coaching hubs like Kota offer intensive, high-tech training for IIT aspirants. I remember a friend who moved to Delhi to prepare for the IAS exams. Although the IAS isn’t an entrance exam per se, it highlights how far students are willing to go—and how much they’re willing to endure—to succeed in competitive assessments.
But there's a darker side to this coaching culture. The pressure can be overwhelming, often leading to exploitation. In one tragic instance, students lost their lives in an IAS coaching center in Delhi that flooded due to poor infrastructure—it was running illegally in a basement. Kota, despite its reputation for academic excellence, sees an alarming number of student suicides each year.
The issue isn’t isolated to coaching centers. In Tamil Nadu, several students died by suicide after failing to clear the NEET exam, triggering statewide protests. Many believed that NEET disproportionately favored out-of-state students and disrupted Tamil Nadu’s traditionally inclusive approach to medical admissions. This controversy even led to calls for NEET exemption in the state.
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