One dream, thousands of students and the never ending rat race. Delhi and Prayagraj did not accidently become one of the most important hub of coaching centres, it advertised the key component, i.e. aspiration. However, behind all the toppers list, motivational posters and romantized glory of civil services lies a dark reality of debt, lost years of adulthood and compromised mental health for years.
- Two Cities And One Epicentre:
Prayagraj (now called Allahabad) and Delhi’s old Rajinder Nagar and Mukherjee Nagar are not just neighbourhood cities, they are the main ecosystem towards UPSC and state PCS exams. Coaching centres around these areas earn up to crores making profit from this rat race. Libraries that are open 24/7. PG’s functioning like dormitories. Students living their lives in a 5ft sq. room.
Every shop nearby be it stationary, printout shops earn their living as part of this exam ecosystem. Every business around it flourishes and blooms as part of this aspirant economy.
This is not some accident happening overnight. This whole planned structure pegs India’s UPSC coaching industry alone at approximately 3000 crores, which is again sitting inside a wider coaching sector valued at around 58,000 – 75,000 crore economy. It has been projected to cross over 1 lakh crore in the next few years as the number of aspirants has almost doubled in the last decade. From around 5 lakh in 2012 to over 11 lakh in these few years, India saw a huge market idea for the education industry.
- The Price Tag To This Race: What Is The Cost To “Prepare”
Any aspirant living in Prayagraj or Delhi when asked about the price tag to this lifestyle, would term it as an investment. For a family belonging to a middle class, it is often a gamble of borrowed money, loans, and stretching savings for a promising future. However, the expenditure is not only tuition fees
- Coaching fees: In Prayagraj, the starting fees just for a foundation course could range from 50,000 to 1.3 lakh rupees. In Delhi, similar comparable programmes can cross 2 lakh single handedly once optional subjects and test series are added.
- Rent and PG cost: A single bedroom in Old Rajinder Nagar can cost 8,000 to 18,000 monthly. Theres again individual differences considering which landlord you end up with. Generally, they spike up the prices once its exam season and demand is high because students are least likely to negotiate too.
- Study material and resources: Optional subjects coaching can range from 10K to 50k.
Additionally, travel expenses, food, groceries, etc. are just some invisible costs of living away from home. Such marketing isn’t accidental, its well planned and structured by industries. Student’s become helpless and puppets to these markets.
- Sacrificing Years Of Young Adulthood: Is It Worth It?
The UPSC exam is not a single night compromise, its roughly years of brutal preparation. When we look at the math, over 10-11 laqkh students appear every year and there’s roughly only a 1000 vacancies including all the quota factors. General category candidates get only six attempts until the age of 32 while OBC gets 9 reattempts till they’re 35. Additionally, SC/ST candidates get unlimited attempts. This shows how the system itself is wrecked majorly.
Most successful candidates take upto 2-3 years to clarify the exam which means a ‘normal’ journey roughly swallows four to six years of a candidates time. Especially in their twenties, the years of building a career, learning financial independence and living outside independently. But does this mean UPSC is a wrong pathway? No, but when you multiply these years to 15-20 lakh aspirants every year, you are bound to question if it is the system, planned industry or some kind of monopoly.
- Did Hard Work Spike The Death Toll: Lives Becoming Commercialised
In July 2024, this stopped being an abstract argument about opportunity costed lives. Three civil services aspirants died after the basement of a coaching centre library in Delhi’s Rajinder Nagar flooded during heavy rain. A death caused by unsafe libraries, poor drainage, and years of civic negligence that everyone in that neighbourhood had quietly normalised. Around the same period, several other aspirants in the same locality died by suicide, some naming unbearable financial and academic pressure in their final notes. It stops becoming a monopoly when lives are lost of innocent students. The power play could still be shameless enough to
But were these accidents or predictable outcome of overworking, financially stretched, emotionally isolated young people into unsafe, unregulated buildings and telling them this suffering is the price they pay for ambition. An industry that generates 3,000 crore a year and still cannot guarantee a safe basement library has not earned the right to call itself a developing nation yet.
- The Exit Routes Which Are Hidden From Public:
There might be some truths which the coaching institutes rarely say outloud.
- State Public Service Commissions (PCS): Many of the aspirants can redirect this effort for the state level exams which have better odds.
- Banking, Railway exams and SSC: General studies preparation works increasingly well to SBI PO, IBPS, SSC and other similar exams.
- Private sector roles like consultants, policy research, etc. are highly in demand and would value all the writing skillls developed over the years.
- Teaching other young aspirants could be a large way to income for those who could not clear the exams.
It is highly important for students to have a web to fall onto so they don’t loose hope and ambition for their future. Millions of institutes would convince you to try again for years keeping aside all the mental exhaustion and burnout only for the sake of business. Hence these exit routes are important to keep in mind. Switching career routes or being uncertain does not make one a failure.
Prayagraj and Delhi will keep advertising a dream of civil badge to students and there is nothing wrong with this ambition. However the industries being allowed to operate with no proper regulation and making clear money out of this dream is what’s wrong with it.
Somewhere another eighteen year old will be forced to believe this is the only door worth knocking on.
This shouldn’t have to be.
