One-third of school students opt for private coaching, trend stronger in urban areas: Centre survey
Survey Finds One-Third of Students Take Private Coaching, More in Cities
Almost one in three school students in India takes private coaching classes, with the trend being more common in urban areas than in rural parts of the country, a government survey has found.
The Comprehensive Modular Survey (CMS) on education, carried out under the National Sample Survey’s 80th round, covered over 52,000 households and nearly 58,000 students. It studied how much families spend on school education and coaching.
The report said government schools still play the biggest role in education, making up 55.9% of total enrolments—higher in villages where two out of three children study in government schools. Private unaided schools account for about 32% of enrolments nationwide.
Spending on private coaching rises with the level of education. The average annual cost is ₹525 for pre-primary students and goes up to ₹6,384 at the higher secondary level. Families in cities spend much more on coaching than those in villages.
The survey also showed that 95% of students depend on household members to pay for their studies, while only 1.2% said they received government scholarships as their main support.
Overall, course fees are the biggest expense, followed by books and stationery. On average, urban households spend nearly four times more than rural households—₹15,143 compared to ₹3,979—on course fees alone.
