For much of a student’s life, their teachers appear glamorous. They look like these perfect beings who know everything and are excelling in life, not just financially, but also morally, by imparting education to the world’s youth. After growing up, while some maintain the view, others believe they succumbed to the system and the most stable job within it.
However, an IIT-BHU graduate‘s post has sparked a debate over the quality of teachers in the country’s coaching centres. Taking to X (formerly Twitter), user Akash Samournanand Pandey claimed that many JEE coaching teachers are often the “leftovers” of placement season who turned to teaching as a backup career option.
“At 16, JEE coaching teachers seem to project an image of flamboyant geniuses who are IITians and can derive any Physics equation in 60 seconds. Rockstars,” Pandey wrote in an X post.
However, he argued that by the time the students grow up and graduate from IIT, they begin to view them differently. “But by the end of IIT, you realise the truth: they were the leftovers in the placement season. Tier 2 students,” he said.
Pandey claimed that coaching was often a “backup plan” for such teachers and blamed them for overselling the IIT dream to aspirants. “Coaching was their backup plan. They peaked at 16 and got complacent. These guys are undergrads in suits playing dress-up Professors in front of naive teenagers, overselling you the IIT dream. Real ones have a PhD,” he added.
He further added that while some IIT alumni move on to pursue MBAs, PhDs and startups, coaching teachers remained focused on the same entrance exam material for years. “While their batchmates moved on to MBAs, PhDs, and startups, they’ve been stuck on the same booklets of HC Verma and RD Sharma for 20 years,” he said.
“Don’t mistake the gatekeeper for the owner of the castle,” Pandey concluded.
Social media reactions
As the post gained traction online, it resulted in Pandey being blamed and supported by social media users. While some users agreed with his assessment, others defended coaching teachers and their contribution to educating the youth.”Kind of agree! Now from the other side of the table, I see what these coaches do to mind of these kids. It is a task for us to make those who come to IIT realise that life’s greatest achievement cannot be that you cleared an exam at 18,” a user wrote.
“True….they don’t even have that deep understanding of the subjects they are teaching as compared to some good professors out there…..they have just micro-tailored themselves for the entrance exams” added another.
“I disagree with most points on this. Some may eventually become good teachers. There is no need to prove that you are a good worker in corporate, to prove that you can be good in imparting knowledge. Do not ask a king how to forge swords. A peasant strives for years, warrior be” a user defended.
“Who cares? Stop trying to classify people as ‘rockstars’ or ‘leftovers’. they help people and get paid for it – good for them,” another wrote.
