CHENNAI: Vishwa Chandar is the son of a small petty shop owner in Kilpauk. While his father was unfortunate not to have a proper education, he wanted his son to pursue chartered accountancy. However, things have become quite difficult for him, financially, thanks to the sky-rocketing expenses involved in CA.“My father has taken a loan of Rs 60,000 to pay for my private coaching. There is nothing I can do, as coaching is essential for this course,” he says. Vishwa is not alone. Without proper monitoring by the people in-charge, hundreds of private institutes offering training for chartered accountancy examinations have mushroomed all over the city and they charge exorbitant fees.According to students, the situation is largely owing to the kind of coaching offered at the regional centre of the Institute of Charted Accountants of India (ICAI), which they argue “is not up to the mark.”“While they do have brilliant lecturers for select subjects, faculty for most other has very little reputation. This is the reason why people opt for private institutes,” says Kripakaran, an intermediate level student (IPCC) adding that the schedule of classes is also very uncomfortable and lessons are completed in a rush in the last few classes.These institutes have ‘simple’ shemes. Take for example, a popular institute in Adyar, that offers students-only packages, forcing them to register for two or three subjects at a stretch.According to the owner of one of the institutes, it is not viable for them to offer training for individual subjects as the salary that they pay for the lecturers is very high. “The people who teach here are the best. We pay them a share of the fee as well as a salary. Therefore, it is natural that the fee structure is slightly higher,” says the concerned person.A number of students who spoke to City Express say that the best solution for the problem is for the ICAI to step in and regulate the institutes so that they are not taken for a ride. Also, coaching offered at the regional centres has to be improved so that more students join with confidence. “The difference in fee structure between the ICAI coaching and private institutes is almost 10 times. Even then if students opt for the private centres, imagine what is happening,” says one student.
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