Over the past two decades, higher education in India has been turned into a commercial racket focused on squeezing ever larger sums money out of desperate job seekers on the premise that if they spend big amounts on test prep, they might just land the government job (not just UPSC but also more most modest jobs like bank clerk, police constable or train driver) or IIT seat that they aspire to. As highlighted in our bestselling book, “Breakpoint: The Crisis of the Middle Class & The Future of Work”, with candidates’ chances of success being less than 0.3%, most of these test prep providers thrive by advertising loudly how much more likely their clients were (compared to the average Joe) of cracking these extremely competitive entrance exams. In Bihar, one of India’s worst states in terms of employment availability for young people, the rivalry between coaching institutions in making competing claims of success has resulted in open warfare and gun battles as narrated in Umesh Kumar Ray’s article for NewsLaundry.
The punch up between Khan Global Academy (owned by Faisal Khan) and Gyan Bindu GS Academy (owned by Roshan Anand) has apparently been decades in the making. The only reason you & I are getting to hear about it in our living rooms in India’s megacities is because some of the competing claims made recently by these coaching institutes got a little bit excessive:
“Last year, the Central Selection Board of Constable Recruitment (CSBC), Bihar, advertised 19,383 constable posts in the Bihar Police. A staggering 16 lakh candidates applied. After the written examination, 99,690 were shortlisted for the physical efficiency test; the final list of 19,383 selected candidates was published on May 27.
Within days, Khan Global Studies put up a banner claiming 12,000 of its aspirants had been selected, and that Khan Sir would felicitate them. Roshan Anand of Gyan Bindu countered that 10,000 of his own students had made the cut. The two claims add up to 22,000 successful candidates, for just 19,383 posts. The numbers could not both be true.
Sources within the building claimed the flashpoint came when a banner showing Khan Sir felicitating selected constables appeared on the signboard of the rival Gyan Bindu GS Academy.
That, they claimed, triggered the attack on Khan’s centre.
Around 10 pm on June 2, a group of about two dozen people attacked Khan Global Studies’ main office and coaching centre, pelting it with stones…”
The competition among the candidates for a handful of seats is matched by the competition among the equally desperate coaching institutes whose numbers are also in the thousands: “There is no official count of how many coaching centres operate in Patna, but estimates put the number above 2,000. They cluster in Musallapur, Naya Tola, Bhikhna Pahari and nearby areas, and most prepare students for lower-paying government jobs – in the Railways, or as Bihar Police constables.”
The competition among the institutes confers some benefits upon the candidates: “In 2024, Roshan Anand gave Bullet motorcycles to some candidates who finished in the top 20 of the Bihar Police constable exam, and promised a Thar compact SUV to any of his students who secured the number one rank. At the felicitation, he declared: “Some people say they won’t give a Bullet or a Thar, but rather a double star (police rank). My stance is that we will give the Bullet, the Thar, and the double star.”
Khan Sir, for his part, invited 12,000 successful constables to his institute, handed out police uniforms and medals, and hosted a feast.
The rivalry has another, murkier edge: institutes are said to “buy” successful candidates who actually studied elsewhere. A candidate recently selected as a Railways loco pilot told Newslaundry, on condition of anonymity, that after his result a renowned institute approached him through one of its students. “He told me that the teacher would give me a cash reward and also felicitate me; however, I declined the offer because I had not studied at that institute,” he said.
Two months ago, when Abhishek Patel of Bihar topped the Forest Range Officer examination, both Khan Sir and Roshan Anand claimed him as their own.”
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