VEHARI, May 11: Private tuition centres have mushroomed all over the district and adjoining commercial and residential localities. Offering coaching facilities in almost all the subjects, these centres have become a ‘necessary evil’ for the students who claim that they don’t get due measure of attention in schools and colleges.

Most of these academies are being run by the academics of the government-run institutions and they prefer working there at the cost of the institutions. It is a common practice that teachers stay away from the institutions and depend on proxy attendance.

On the other hand, the growing number of students is looking for these institutions and join the rat race with the hope of getting good marks in the examination. Parents remain equally anxious about their children and don’t mind admitting them to the private coaching centres.

According to educationists, the quality of education imparted at these centres is debatable as joining these has rather become a fashion. The academies, they insist, capitalise on the situation and even charge arbitrarily high fees.

Most of these centres don’t have qualified staff and at some places students have been hired for the job against meagre salaries.

A survey conducted by Dawn revealed that in some information technology centres in Sharqi Colony, laboratory technicians and assistants teach the students.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the education, a student said science teachers did not have clear concepts, not to speak of quality education.

A student, who got enrolment in a spoken English programme being offered at the institute, said the teacher did not use audio-visual aids and just taught the pupils in a traditional manner. The overall standard of education was contrary to the claims the authorities made in advertisements.

A student at a computer centre said she joined a three-month short course in response to an advertisement which claimed that the centre had Pentium-III and IV computers. But she found that only Pentium-I computers were being used.

She also complained that even many of the computers remained out of service.

When contacted, a computer college owner said usually those in the business spent a lot on advertising and other initial essentials and expect quick returns. However, these centres were helping improve the IT education.

The students and their parents have demanded that the government should take stock of the situation.