Kota is not going to die

‘Bache Kota se nikal jate hain, par Kota bachon se nahi nikalta.’ This is one of the lines from the web series Kota Factory that took the ‘Kota Factor’ to the common masses. It revealed how is it to be in Kota, an extremely warm and cold city situated in Rajasthan. Where the only thing visible within the range are students donning uniforms from different coaching institutes.

Very recently, with the deepening internet penetration, the trend to go to Kota for preparation has been enhanced. It has become the new cool. However, with innumerable suicide incidents, the coaching culture has come into question. Still, the emotion that Kota carries remains intact. It was said that with the onset of the EduTech sector, online coaching will spell doom for Kota. However, the reality is that Kota is not going to die.

The Journey of Kota

Was Kota always like we see or know it today? The answer is no and therefore, the locals always say that Kota, as we see it today, is a by-product of liberalisation.

Kota was an industrial hub until the 1990s. The town was famous for its industries catering to textiles, chemicals, steel and power. And the industries were the source of livelihood. Then liberalisation happened and the city of Kota changed forever, or to say got a whole new identity.

Liberalisation took a toll on the local industries and the livelihood died a slow death. It was then that coaching institutes like Bansal Classes and Allen Career Institute became attractive business prospects for the common masses. Then came the era of coaching institutes tying up with senior secondary schools. The 12th board exams became secondary and students were asked to give all their time to IIT and PMT preparation.

How does Kota look today? In every lane of the city, the billboards contain large photos of All India Rank 1 instead of movie posters, and the streets are full of children roaming around in uniforms, hostels, messes and libraries.

The advent of EduTech era

The Covid pandemic changed how the world functions including the education sector. The pandemic locked the entire world within the four walls and this period saw an exponential rise of India’s EduTech sector.

E-tutors, whom students often saw online for clearing some of their concepts, have now become full blown teachers. The platforms started formalising themselves. Back-to-back courses were launched for all sorts of preparation, ranging from IIT-JEE, AIPMT/NEET, SSC to UPSC. The idea of learning from the comfort of their homes excited the students. Over the last 2 years, the EduTech market grew 5 times. However, the honeymoon period ended very soon along with the lockdown.

With the pandemic getting over and schools and offline coaching opening again, the students realised that ‘study from home’ was not a good idea. There are multiple reasons behind that. Like with the online course, students were not able to complete the syllabus. There existed no student-teacher relationship, and doubt clearance happened to be a serious hurdle in preparation. The excitement eroded and the EduTech giants were forced to take the ‘Kota Route’.

EduTech giants take the ‘Kota Route’

You might be a unicorn, but if you want to stay in the business of IIT-JEE and NEET coaching, you have to have an institute in Kota. The lesson was learnt by Physics Wallah owner Alakh Pandey. Soon after the pandemic, Noida based Pandey launched his first offline centre PW Vidyapeeth in Kota to assist students preparing for medical and engineering entrance exams.

Unacademcy, the one with the most followers online, took the same route. Unacademcy not only launched its offline centre in the southern city of Rajasthan but has also been posing a great challenge to the monopoly of Allen, which owns more than 70% of the market share.

A cut throat battle is going on among the institutes in Kota. There have been accusations of poaching teachers, by almost every institute upon every other institute. This in turn adds more importance to the city and validates the saying that Kota is indeed the education hub and is not going to die.