A reason why these coaching institutes raked in so much money was because parents were made to believe that the directors of these institutes had a ‘setting’ with the Railway Recruitment Board.
New Delhi: The recent spate of attacks on railway properties all over Bihar by students preparing for Railways jobs has brought focus on Patna’s “Bhikhana Pahari” area, from where hundreds of coaching institutes operate.
The Patna police have named seven directors of different coaching institutes and “research centres”, all based in Bhikhana Pahari area of West Patna, for allegedly instigating their students to indulge in violence at different railway stations of the state.
The FIRs registered by Patrakarnagar and Kadamkuan police stations in Patna have named the directors with the prefix of “Sir” and alleged that they have been booked on the basis of statements made by students who were arrested by the police for allegedly destroying public property.
In ancient times, Bhikhana Pahari (Pahari-mountain) was the mound where Buddhist monks used to have their prayer halls. The area used to be located on the Bodh Gaya-Vaishali route, which was traversed even by Gautam Buddha.
Until 20-25 years ago, Bhikhana Pahari was little known outside the state capital, say locals. However, it started becoming a household name in the state once the coaching institutes started mushrooming there.
Soon it started witnessing the arrival of students from outside Patna and from the adjoining Uttar Pradesh to prepare for different competitive examinations, ranging for admission in prestigious schools like Sainik School, Netarhat, Navodaya Vidyalaya and Ramakrishna Mission schools to Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examinations.
The owners of these coaching institutions started minting so much money—most of which undeclared—that the Income Tax department got involved and in 2010, it raided several such institutes which led to the introduction of an Act by the state government to control these coaching institutes.
These institutes started engaging eminent teachers from Patna University to prepare students for engineering, medical examinations and the civil services. This also led to the development of professional rivalries that saw two senior science teachers belonging to the Patna Science College being murdered on university campus.
Sensing the huge profits that these institutes were making, professional businessmen and moneylenders took control of the coaching industry in Patna and a large number of institutes started appearing on Bhikhna Pahari and adjoining areas such as Saidpur, Bazar Samiti, Khajanchi Road and Annie Beasant Road.
These so-called coaching institutes, despite being run in small rooms and halls bereft of “luxuries” such as washrooms and working ceiling fans, earned handsomely as government jobs were the only option for lakhs of youths from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Soon, parents started sending their children from far off places like Mohaniya, Gaya, Lakhisarai, Barahiya, Motihari and Purnia to groom their wards for jobs as railway guards, ticket collectors and booking clerks in the Railways.
One reason why these coaching institutes raked in so much money was because the parents were made to believe that the directors of these institutes had a “setting” with the Railway Recruitment Board.
At the time, a prominent and popular Bihar-based politician was charged of arranging jobs in the Ministry of Railways in exchange of agricultural, residential plots and flats.
Come 2019, when the Railways launched over one lakh job offers, the coaching institutes again started flooding them with job seekers.
The majority of these coaching centres are being run in contravention of the provisions of the Bihar Coaching Institutes (Control and Regulation) Act, which was brought on 28 April 2010 by Nitish Kumar, who at the time was on a mission to “change” Bihar and show that he was not just another run of the mill politician. Bihar had, at the time, become the first state in the country to introduce a law to regulate coaching institutions.
The Act was introduced to provide better academic support to prepare for different examinations. Provisions were made in the Act for proper hygiene and sanitation for students, sitting arrangements, infrastructure, qualified teachers and parking space for cycles and vehicles of the students. The Act provides that all institutes should be registered with the state and registration should be renewed every three years after satisfaction of the district authorities. It also provides for the provision of penalty ranging from Rs 25,000 to Rs 1 lakh for violating the provisions of the said Act.
Till date, no institute has ever been fined or ordered to be shut down despite glaring irregularities, and the coaching economy has been institutionalised and their owners emboldened.
Earlier last week, a three-year delay in the announcement of the railway recruitment results and an alleged unannounced change in the recruitment rules by the Railways led to a state-wide agitation, with the examinees targeting Railway properties all over the state for four consecutive days. The examinees from the neighbouring poll-bound Uttar Pradesh too joined the agitation on 26 January at Prayagraj and Gorakhpur, forcing Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to appear on TV and assure the students of fair-play.