Narayan Murthy Criticises Coaching Culture In India

Infosys founder Narayana Murthy on Monday strongly condemned the prevailing coaching culture in India, particularly in Kota, Rajasthan— a city known for its intensive coaching centres that prepare students for competitive exams. 

Addressing the alarming rise in coaching classes across India and the education system in Kota, Murthy labelled the approach of coaching centres as deeply flawed. He added that they do not provide real solutions to children’s educational needs.

Kota, a national educational hotspot, has long faced scrutiny due to the mounting pressure placed on students at its many coaching institutes which train students for Joint Entrance Examination (JEE). For more than three decades, Kota has remained the epicentre of JEE preparation in India, even as the coaching industry has spread to major cities as well as tier-2 and tier-3 towns across the country.

“Coaching classes are the wrong way to help children. I don’t believe in coaching classes, period,” said Murthy, voicing his disapproval of the crammed learning methods that often prioritise rote memorisation over conceptual understanding. 

Kota stands as the hub of India’s test preparation/coaching industry, with reports estimating its annual revenue to be approximately Rs 10,000 crore.

“Kota is the wrong way,” he continued, referring to the intensive, high-pressure learning environment that these centres foster.

He further elaborated his stance by suggesting that coaching classes, despite their widespread acceptance in India, fail to truly educate students. 

“Coaching classes are not the solution to help our children learn better. That’s completely wrong,” he added.

Education should be about learning to learn

The IT industry doyen also shared his broader vision of education in India, mentioning that the current system largely promotes rote learning, which he believes limits students’ ability to think analytically and address real-world problems. He also reflected on his own experience as an engineering graduate and pointed out that the purpose of education is to develop the capacity for lifelong learning and to apply knowledge in a practical context.

“Education is defined as learning to learn,” explained Murthy explained. “When I finished my engineering degree 57 years ago, the world expected me to fully understand the basics and then apply that knowledge to solve real problems.” 

He added that education should enable students to ask critical questions, engage in analytical thinking and identify unsolved problems that need solutions. “The focus has been on rote learning,” he lamented, “…and that doesn’t help us relate what we learn in the class to real-world problems.”

Murthy’s home environment

The Infosys founder also revealed how he and his wife, Sudha Murty, created an environment of discipline and learning at home for their two children, Akshata Murty and Rohan Murty. 

He said that during the late 1980s and early 1990s, the family followed a strict routine where evenings were dedicated to studying, with no distractions such as television.

“The best way to create an environment of learning for our children is for us to read something between 6:30 PM and 8:30 PM,” Murthy told reporters, on the sidelines of the unveiling of 13th edition of ‘Conceptual Physics’ book. 

He added that Sudha Murty took the lead in ensuring that the children followed this disciplined study routine. “My wife's logic was, look, if I am watching TV, I cannot tell my children to study. So she said, ‘I will sacrifice my TV time and I will also do some studying'."

Murthy also spoke on the importance of leading by example, believing that parents should demonstrate the behaviours they expect from their children. “Leadership by example is the responsibility of the parents,” he said, noting that this practice paid off as both of his children excelled academically as his daughter pursued her education at Stanford, while his son earned his PhD from Harvard.

Rohit Chintapali

BW Reporters The author is Regional Editor (Technology & South) at BW Businessworld.