Coaching culture has become a gas chamber, need to examine ad spend: Jagdeep Dhankhar

Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday said the culture of coaching centres has become no less than a "gas chamber" and stressed on the need to examine the huge expenditure incurred on newspaper advertisements by them.

The Rajya Sabha on Monday held a short duration discussion under rule 176 on the deaths of three UPSC aspirants in a coaching centre in Delhi due to water logging.

Allowing the discussion, Dhakhar remarked, "I find that youth demographic dividend of the country has to be nurtured, I further find that coaching has become virtually commerce." He also pointed out the high sums earned by the coaching centres leading to commercialisation of education.

"Coachings have become a flourishing industry with high returns....every time we read a newspaper front one or two pages are by way of advertisements....Every penny spent on advertisement is coming from the students, every new building is coming from the students," he said.

Comparing the coaching culture to no less than "gas chambers", the Chairman stated, "In a country where opportunities are getting enlarged this silo is turning out to be a problem..they are becoming no less than a gas chamber." He urged the members to tell the youths about the various other employment and skill opportunities available in the country.