copied from http://www.educationmaster.org/news/interview-fiitjee-chairman-dk-goel.html
Interview with FIITJEE Chairman DK Goel
Published On: 27th April 2010
Interview with FIITJEE Chairman DK Goel By Staff Reporter
DK Goel is the founder and Chairman of FIITJEE. An alumnus of IIT-Delhi, he founded FIITJEE in 1992, which is a forum for IIT-JEE, a launching pad for the serious JEE aspirants. He is the man who looked at teaching from a different perspective making FIITJEE one of the best coaching institutions to crack IITJEE. In the following interview with Education Master, Mr. Goel shared his experience and views on various topics on education.
Education Master: FIITJEE has been a leading brand in IIT coaching scene for nearly 2 decades now. What prompted you, an IIT alumnus, to start this initiative?
DK Goel: I had a fair share of corporate work opportunities. However, I wanted to be an entrepreneur and wanted to set up a school but had little money. Those days, the best of MNCs paid pittance compared to the salaries today. Starting IIT-JEE coaching has been a means to a much larger goal.
EM: When you started FIITJEE, what are the primary objectives you had in your mind given that other brands (like Brilliant Tutorials and Agarwal Classes) were major players in entrance exam coaching sector who not only held classroom classes, but also through correspondence?
DKG: You will be surprised to know that Agarwal Classes closed their correspondence course division in January, 1994 because the business was no longer profitable. Agarwal Classes did not have classroom coaching for IIT-JEE as such. They used to give classroom coaching to students only for boards.
Brilliants gained importance in correspondence courses only after the closure of Agarwal Classes. Brilliants was never respected for its classroom coaching as such.
When I started FIITJEE, I was not at all impressed with any of the coaching institutes in India.
EM: Looking back now, do you think you were able to achieve your objectives then?
DKG: FIITJEE is just the beginning of my mission.
EM: The IIT-JEE coaching market is a huge one and the competition is fierce with limitless players vying to get a bigger bite of the pie. Many ex-IITians like you have joined the coaching bandwagon since you have been producing excellent results.
DKG: You are very right.
EM: Where does FIITJEE stand today amongst the top brands with respect to the market share as well as success rate?
DKG: FIITJEE has been producing highest number of selections in IIT-JEE in India since 1998.
EM: Why FIITJEE today, and why FIITJEE tomorrow?
DKG: Mantras for success are simple – honesty, hard work, planning and passion are the key. This holds true for any enterprise anywhere in the world. For this simple reason FIITJEE will remain on top for a very, very long time.
EM: FIITJEE has carved a niche for itself in IIT-JEE coaching. Why hasn't it diversified into coaching for other competitive exams like medical or management entrances like CAT?
DKG: The intelligence barrier in exams other than IIT-JEE mentioned by you is low and therefore it does not interest me. Just consider this, all IIT-JEE coaching institutes in the country have majority of ex-FIITJEE faculty. We are the only one capable of training staff to teach for IIT-JEE. No other institute has any training program of substance.
EM: Your 'FORTUNATE 40' initiative does have a scope for students who would like to take up medicine as their career. Will FIITJEE itself impart medical coaching to them or would do so through a tie-up?
DKG: This is restricted to IX/X only. We are not offering medical entrance coaching as such. Though we do have a junior college in Hyderabad where students are aspiring to be doctors generally take admission. It was started due to a political request.
EM: Some would say your 'FORTUNATE 40' initiative looks like a spin-off of the highly successful Bihar's 'Super 30'. How different is 'FORTUNATE 40' from 'Super 30'? Please tell us more about it.
DKG: My research on ‘Super 30’ says a different story about them and their success. Though from outside it may look similar, I leave it to you to find the difference.
EM: FIITJEE also has school-linked programs integrating school teaching and coaching. How many schools are you currently tied-up with and what is your eventual target? Do you have tie-ups with government-run or aided schools?
DKG: We have tie-ups with both private as well as government run schools. This is a ‘not for profit venture’. There is no planned number in our mind. This is a project to demonstrate how school teaching can be complete and students need not go for any extra coaching after the school. This program revolves around ideal school education.
EM: Don't you think school tuitions should suffice when it comes to cracking the various entrance exams for undergraduate courses? If so, then would you agree that the school education system is faulty as it does not prepare a student adequately for the super-tough entrance exams? (In other words, why are coaching institutes like FIITJEE so necessary to crack IIT-JEE? Where does the fault lie?)
DKG: Indian society is undergoing a metamorphosis of sorts which would take another 60 years at least. Even in metros, school teachers lack the motivation to teach properly in school and the substandard school teacher becomes an excellent teacher in the evening.
Other strategy of school teachers is to not finish the course in school in time to get more tuition. Everyone wants to earn more and school teachers are fervently engaged in making extra bucks. Situation is very bad in smaller cities and towns.
In rural India, school education is limited to literacy, familiarity and passing the exams only. There is no passion or focus on using education in a practical way. I have described the general scenario, though good teachers can be found everywhere albeit few.
Another reason is that coaching is needed to outdo others. Even Indian cricket team needs coaching including Tendulkar.
EM: Your thoughts on Indian education system with respect to rote learning and innovation… Being a product of IIT yourself, do you think rote learning is the general way to get good grades in IITs as shown in a recent Bollywood blockbuster?
DKG: In 3 Idiots they showed rote learning inside the college but not for cracking the entrance exam. It was 100% true until a few years back. IITs lacked the innovation spirit of the west but not IITians. Once IITians were in a developed country they contributed at par with the best there. School system is a totally degraded one and encourages rote learning because of:
1. Shortage of good motivated teachers,
2. Pattern of the exams.
EM: What is your take on the MHRD's school reforms initiative? What are your thoughts on making CBSE Class X board exams optional? What are the reforms would you like to see yourself especially in the Indian school education system that you find the MHRD has overlooked or should stress upon?
DKG: Every excellent idea need not give us positive results. Just interview parents from any CBSE school in Delhi or any city and find out if CBSE and schools are prepared to do justice to ongoing assessment process that has come to replace X board. The idea is excellent but not executable. Our HRD Minister probably will realize it after having caused much damage to students' career as well as to education itself.
The new system is all set to give rise to a new system of corruption. I can see the seeds and the country will see the weeds in a few years. Few things the government should do are:
1. Reward good teachers.
2. Increase education spends; allow good education societies like DPS to run schools in rural areas where government will give funds for infrastructure.
3. Encourage school teachers to set up schools of their own, for this allow banks to give long term soft loans up to 95% of project value.
4. Bar developmental agencies including DDA to sell/auction school land at commercial prices. How do you expect a school to give good services when they buy land for 20-50 crore? School fee is barely sufficient to service the interest on project cost??? Is MHRD blind??? You reap so as you sow!!!
EM: Talking about reforms in the education sector, HRD minister Kapil Sibal has got the Foreign Education Providers Bill approved by the Cabinet and would be placed before Parliament now, and is currently pressing hard for tie-ups with international universities and also inviting them to open shops in India. Your thoughts on foreign universities operating in India.
DKG: This new Bill will be good for the country, though it could have been much better after some other steps. This is a great idea but with bad preparation!!! He needs to clean up India first and correct government policies too!
A private engineering college can be set up with land and Rs. 1 crore investment. Setting up one IIT takes land plus Rs. 200 crore to begin with and investment continues for a decade. Government also gives grants. Allow private sector to set up institutes of excellence and compete with IITs. If foreign universities can be allowed to make profits why an Indian entrepreneur should not be allowed to recover the investment and make a modest return on capital invested.
EM: It is now plausible that some of the biggest names in technology schools like MIT, Yale or Princeton may be here in India in the not-so-distant future. If they start operating independently will it dilute the IIT brand?
DKG: Ask any IIT professor or an alumnus and they will tell you that the IIT brand is already diluted with so many IITs. After the foreign universities come to India quality of higher education will improve and IITs will definitely go down. Best students will choose MIT, Princeton or Stanford and not IITs!!!
EM: Also, the process of gaining a seat in one of those colleges may be different from getting a berth in IIT like entrance exams and/or selection criteria. In that case, what would FIITJEE's strategy be?
DKG: We are already training students for admission to top US universities. We will meet any challenge.
EM: Where do you see FIITJEE 10 years from today? What can we expect from FIITJEE in 2020?
DKG: Frankly, I have not thought about this. One day FIITJEE will contribute to society through education at all levels.
EM: What would be your evergreen big tip for the IIT aspirants?
DKG: 1. Whatever you do, do it perfectly. Make sure after preparation you can solve any new problem on that topic on your own.
2. Do not ignore sports and physical fitness.
3. Participate in variety of extra-curricular activities to develop a well rounded personality.
Related Tags: DK Goel, FIITJEE, Fortunate 40, MHRD, Indian Education System, Foreign Education Bill, Education Reforms
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