Delhi’s coaching hubs: A hell hole for UPSC aspirants

New Delhi: Old Rajender Nagar and Mukherjee Nagar, two hubs for UPSC coaching centers in New Delhi, have become a nightmare for UPSC aspirants. For years, coaching centers have mushroomed in these two localities. However, most of them are running in ramshackle buildings without having any approval from authorities.

The death of three UPSC aspirants in the basement of Rau's IAS coaching center in Delhi exposed the subpar facilities in these tutorials. Tania Soni, 25, from Telangana; Shreya Yadav, 25, from Uttar Pradesh; and Navin Delvin, 28, from Kerala, were trapped for over four hours when water suddenly gushed into the basement following heavy rains.

On July 22, a 26-year-old civil service aspirant allegedly died by electrocution following heavy rain in the Patel Nagar area near Old Rajinder Nagar.

Were these coaching centers always the same?

Speaking to NewsMeter, a UPSC topper on condition of anonymity said, "Mukherjee Nagar is home for the majority of Hindi medium aspirants from North Indian states. Old Rajinder Nagar is a major hub for UPSC coaching. Hundreds of centers are established in too little space and are always crowded. Three years back, when I was in Delhi, classes were conducted in congested areas and basements."

"A lot of things have changed over the last few years. As the market is growing, many new institutes are trying to cash in on the opportunity," said the UPSC topper.

Why do students opt for libraries?

Around 400 to 600 students study in these basement libraries daily. In many coaching centers, classes are conducted in the basements, not just in libraries.

Libraries are run independently, and anyone can go and study. They charge every month like Rs 1500 per month. While few run 24/7 which costs more, few run for specific periods.

According to an aspirant, room rents in Delhi are very high which are not affordable for many lower middle and middle-class students. "Mostly students go for sharing with 2-3 other students. They can't study in a room in a disturbed environment so they prefer libraries. Libraries in coaching centers are reading rooms- with small cubicles where each of them can study peacefully," said a UPSC aspirant.

"I can relate myself how they came to Delhi to reach new heights. It's no fault of the aspirants. However, more institutes have come illegally without any safety concerns.

Currently, around 95 percent of the libraries, which are in basements, have been shut down by their owners to avoid trouble. Students now worry that without the libraries, preparing for the approaching exams is an uphill task.

Too crowded classrooms- Horrible buildings

Speaking to NewsMeter, civil aspirant Shanmukhi said, "Once a coaching center becomes popular, students make a beeline. However, these coaching centers do not maintain standards; they run in horrible buildings. Hundreds of students are kept in one classroom, and the classes are told using mike."

According to the civil aspirants, while the majority of them run libraries and classes in the basement, the main problem is the drainage system and its maintenance. Roads in these areas get waterlogged every time it rains.

Why do all students go to Delhi?

For decades, Delhi has been the center that attracted students to study in universities and national institutions. These large coaching institutions have become a hub for training civil aspirants. Though there are now coaching centers in Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad, the majority of them opt for Delhi.

"Since it's a competitive exam, the strategy and methodology, resources persons, and proven track record in decades-old coaching centers are major factors why people opt for Delhi," said a senior IAS officer.

For a UPSC candidate, there is a general perception that something good is in Delhi since a large number of aspirants cracked the test. Better coaching is also believed to draw more students to Delhi coaching centers.

Need for regulations:

According to Retired IAS officer PV Ramesh, there is a need to legislate and regulate the running of coaching institutions. It is now time for the whole system to be reviewed, with standard rules and equal opportunity for everyone.

"I am against the entire concept of coaching for UPSC because it distorts the level playing field for the competition. What essentially coaching institutes do is collect strategy and content over decades and teach the candidates. If an aspirant doesn't have money to get coaching, he/she cannot access the content," said PV Ramesh.

Sealing centres violating rules

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has started action against illegal coaching centers and will set up a high-level committee to probe the flooding of the basement of a coaching institute which led to the death of three civil services aspirants.

The Corporation which launched a sealing drive in northwest Delhi's Mukherjee Nagar, a hub of UPSC coaching centers in the national capital so far closed 20 coaching centers including Dhrishti IAS, IAS Gurukul, Chahal Academy, Plutus Academy, Sai Trading, IAS Setu, Topper's Academy, Dainik Samvad, Civils Daily IAS, Career Power, 99 Notes, Vidya Guru, Guidance IAS, and Easy for IAS were sealed.

Water clogging issues

Civil services aspirants holding a protest against the death of three students in the flooded basement of Rau's IAS Study Circle building in Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar area on Tuesday began an indefinite hunger strike to demand action in the case.

More than 400 students have been participating in the protest for the past three days amid heavy police deployment.

An interim report of the magisterial inquiry into the death of three students in the flooded library of Rau's IAS Study Circle said the water level of the center's basement and the road was the same which posed a problem in pumping out water to rescue the trapped students. Another report by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) found that the flooding of the basement made the biometric gate there "nonfunctional" that "caused casualty and delayed the evacuation of the students".

The MCD report also raised several possible reasons behind the flooding of the basement including encroachments and the peculiar profile of the road outside the building housing the coaching center.

The report said, Rau's coaching institute has completely blocked the drainage system and also has not taken additional safeguards to meet such type of eventualities. The parking access to the institute is directly exposed to the road and in case of heavy rain, water instead of going into the stormwater drain enters directly into this parking area.

"More students will die if we neglect this incident. We won't get justice for our fellow students. If we don't fight for our right now, how will we serve the nation in the future? This is sheer negligence on the part of the authorities," said Rahul Sharma, a Civil Aspirant from Uttar Pradesh.

Another protesting student said, "The MCD is the biggest culprit. Whenever it rains, the streets are waterlogged and you risk falling into an open manhole or getting an electric shock and dying. Anything can happen."

Inputs from PTI.