The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) is one of the places that has trained talented leaders for the world's leading companies such as Google, X, FedEx and IBM. Therefore, this institute is the dream of many Indian families. Children as young as 13 have to decide whether they want to take the university entrance exam to IIT or not. To win the opportunity to get into a good school, they need to prepare very early, enroll in extra classes after school, the trade-off is that the children do not have much time to pursue other hobbies such as playing music or sports.
Competitive culture
Every year, millions of Indian youth take entrance exams to higher education institutes, especially engineering and medical, lured by the high-paying job opportunities in the future.
In 2024, over 1.4 million Indian students appeared for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for various engineering colleges, with a total of 17,760 seats available at 23 IITs across the country.
Meanwhile, 2.4 million other students take the medical school entrance exam to compete for a chance at one of the 108,000 admission spots.
In a country where many parents want their children to become doctors and engineers, these limited opportunities have created a culture of fierce competition and a thriving test-prep industry.
According to a 2023 report by Infinium Global Research, a consulting firm based in Pune, India, the country's test prep industry was worth about 580 billion rupees (about $6.9 billion) in 2021, and is expected to double to 1.33 trillion rupees (about $15.8 billion) by 2028.
The driving force behind this growth comes from the aspirations of millions of families who see the university entrance exam as a path to opening up opportunities for advancement in society based on personal achievements and efforts.
Exam preparation gives both poor and rich students a better chance of passing exams, helping them shape their career future.
Saurabh Kumar is now ready for the JEE. He started studying before he turned 14 in 2022, hoping to pass and study mechanical engineering at an IIT. The son of an army officer from Vaishali district in Bihar, Saurabh enrolled full-time at a boarding school in Kota, in the western Indian state of Rajasthan, more than 1,100km away from home. Saurabh has devoted all his efforts and time to preparing for the exam, which he will take in 2026. His family members are all people who have gradually established themselves in society by working for the government or becoming doctors and engineers.
Saurabh wants to follow in his family’s footsteps and set an example for his siblings by going to IIT and becoming an aeronautical engineer. “With an IIT degree, you will be respected in your village,” Saurabh said.
Not a small amount of pressure
Kota is known as the “Preparation Capital” of India. Here, students spend their entire lives studying at numerous coaching centres to prepare for entrance exams to engineering and medical schools. Most of them skip their basic studies and instead bury themselves in cram books, away from family, friends and hobbies.
The test prep industry offers standardized tests that are more selective than selective, through “relentless and mechanical practice” of multiple-choice questions, says Professor Avijit Pathak, a former academic at Jawaharlal Nehru University.
“Nothing matters. Not the joy of learning physics or the excitement of doing experiments in a science lab or marveling at a short story by Tagore.”
For every “successful” engineer or doctor, there are more children suffering.
In 2023, at least 26 students attending coaching centres committed suicide in Kota as they could not bear the pressure of studying and pressure from their parents.
Parents, especially those with relatively limited financial resources who have to borrow money to send their children to study for exams, often tell their children to work hard and prove themselves, said Dr Dinesh Sharma, a psychiatrist.
“Parents often tell their children, ‘We have spent so much money on you… Everyone knows you came to Kota to study to become a doctor. You can only return when you become a doctor,’” said Dr Dinesh Sharma.
Efforts to resolve
The Indian government has recently tried to tighten control over exam preparation, including imposing a minimum age of 16 for students to participate in exam preparation. However, the restrictions have only pushed the service further underground.
India must invest more in public education to increase the number of quality schools, experts say. The country’s education spending has hovered around 3% of gross domestic product for more than five years, far below the 6% target set by a government committee in the 1960s.
Professor Pathak added that it was time for a social movement to “save education from cram schools”, calling on educators, social activists, parents and others to ensure that the State builds more good and affordable public schools and universities where “teachers and students are actually engaged in serious learning”.
It is necessary to limit the reliance on only one exam to assess student quality, and at the same time attach importance to general education when enrolling in higher education institutions.
Another problem is that students whose families can afford to pay for test prep have an advantage, which is very unfair to families who cannot afford it.
A model of quality and equitable public schools would benefit everyone, especially students from poor and lower-middle-class families who are currently struggling to send their children to cram schools in search of better opportunities to make their dreams come true.
Part of the solution requires creating more quality jobs for India's youth, so that job shortages don't create fierce competition and fuel demand for test prep.
India needs to create at least 12 million new jobs in the non-agricultural sector every year, but experts believe it is only achieving half of that target.
Meanwhile, more and more young Indians are leaving rural areas to seek a place in the country's growing manufacturing and service economy.
They are young people lining up at exam preparation centres to try to win a place in a top engineering or medical university, or pass a government recruitment exam.
With more than 65% of the country's population under 35 years old and more young people than ever pursuing higher education, competition has never been higher.
