Many Indian students wake up at 6 AM every day to go to school. After school, they rush to coaching centers by 4 PM and come home very late, feeling tired. This "double shift" harms their mental health and leaves no time for studying on their own. In 2025, data shows that 37% of senior secondary students go to private coaching, but 81% feel very stressed about their studies. A new idea called Integrated Career Readiness Programs can help. These programs in some of the best schools in Faridabad teach students how to prepare for competitive exams during school hours, so they don’t need to go to coaching centers after school.
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Why Coaching Pressure is Rising?
Across India, students in Classes 8–12 spend long hours in coaching centers after school to prepare for JEE, NEET, and other competitive exams, often studying late into the night. A 2023 survey of parents of JEE aspirants found that around 68% of them gave higher priority to coaching than to regular school attendance, leading to dummy school trends where students are formally enrolled but rarely attend classes.
Most of the top ranks in NEET and JEE go to students who attend coaching classes. Because of this, many families think coaching is a must, not a choice. In NEET, recent data shows that over 90% of the top scorers come from big cities where there are many coaching centers. Students from hundreds of smaller towns without coaching classes make up less than 10% of the top scorers. This makes inequality worse and puts pressure on families to either move to big cities or pay a lot for coaching.
How Coaching-Only Focus Harms Students?
The coaching industry in India is huge, but it does not work well for everyone. Here are the reasons why the old "School + Evening Coaching" system is becoming outdated:
The Fatigue Problem
By the time students reach their coaching class at 5 PM, their brains are already tired from a full day at school. Even though they are in the class, they find it hard to understand difficult topics like Rotational Motion or Organic Chemistry as well as they did in the morning.
Different Teaching Styles
School teachers and coaching teachers often explain the same topic in different ways. For example, a school teacher may teach a long method for a formula to help with board exams, while the coaching teacher may show a quick way for entrance tests. This confuses students and wastes their mental energy trying to understand both methods.
Money Problem
A regular middle-class family in a city spends around ₹4,000 to ₹10,000 every month just on coaching. If you add school fees, transport, and books, the total cost becomes very high. Programs that combine school and coaching in one package help save a lot of money.
The Solution: Integrated Career Readiness Programs in Schools
The modern solution is the Integrated School Program (ISP). In this program, the school handles both board exams and competitive entrance exams completely.
How It Works
The school changes the daily timetable in an integrated program. Instead of regular classes, the timetable has special time slots for JEE or NEET preparation, taught by expert teachers.
- In the morning, students study important subjects like Physics, Chemistry, and Maths or Biology at a higher level, meant for competition.
- In the afternoon, students do practice exercises, clear their doubts, and practice writing for the Board exams.
- In the evening, students go home. They get free time to rest, play sports, or study on their own.
Benefits of the One Campus Approach
- No travel time: Students save 1-2 hours every day because they don’t have to travel between school and coaching classes. Over two years in class 11 and 12, this adds up to more than 600 hours saved.
- Matched syllabus: When the school teaches a topic like "Thermodynamics," the competitive prep also focuses on the same topic. This way, learning is easier and fits well together.
- Better sleep: Getting enough rest helps students do better. In integrated programs, students sleep 7-8 hours, which improves their memory and focus.
What an effective program should include?
A good career readiness program should start early, around Class 6 or 7, and get more focused from Classes 9 to 12. It shouldn’t be just one career day or a few lectures. Instead, it should happen all year and fit into the school schedule seamlessly.
The program should include:
- Psychometric and aptitude tests for Classes 8 to 10. These tests help students understand their interests, strengths, and how they learn best.
- Regular sessions to learn about different careers like STEM, commerce, humanities, design, law, hospitality, defence, vocational trades, entrepreneurship, and new technology jobs.
- Skill-building activities like coding, financial literacy, communication, public speaking, project management, and basic research.
- Guided experiences like internships, job shadowing, meeting mentors, visiting industries, and working on real projects, especially for older students.
With these activities, students in some of the best CBSE schools in Faridabad can explore many career options beyond just JEE or NEET and choose their streams and careers with confidence.
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Implementing Career Readiness: What Schools Must Do?
A school can’t just say it offers good coaching. To really replace a coaching center, schools must improve their facilities and way of thinking.
Special Teachers Are Important
Regular school teachers can’t teach hard JEE Advanced problems. Schools should hire special teachers who have a strong track record in competitive exams. These teachers understand the tricks, patterns, and the level of difficulty needed.
Use Data to Prepare
Schools need to use data to see how students are doing. It’s not just about finishing the syllabus. Schools must give regular practice tests like the real exam. Then they should look at the results and tell students, “You are good at Algebra, but you are losing marks in Calculus. Let’s work on that.”
Career Counselling Matters
In 2025, only 10% of Indian students get proper career guidance. A good Career Readiness program doesn’t push everyone to study Engineering or Medicine. It finds what each student is good at early. For example, if a child is creative, the program should help them prepare for Design or Architecture exams like NID or NATA, instead of forcing them to study physics.
Grand Columbus International School’s Launchpad (Career Readiness Program)
The Launchpad program at Grand Columbus International School (GCIS) in Faridabad shows how the career readiness model works. The school noticed that parents were worried and students were very tired. So, GCIS stopped the after-school rush and brought coaching into the regular school day.
What is Launchpad (Career Readiness Program)?
Launchpad is a special Career Readiness Program at GCIS. It is not a club after school; it is part of the school timetable. The school believes their job does not finish when students pass Class 12 exams. They want to help students after Class 12 too.
The program helps students prepare for big exams like JEE (Main & Advanced), NEET, and other Olympiads. Since this coaching happens in school hours, students don’t need to go outside to special coaching centers.
How Launchpad reduces stress?
Launchpad is special because it cares about students’ mental health as well as studies.
- In-house experts: GCIS hires trained teachers who know these exams well. This means students get good teaching just like at coaching centers.
- Balanced time: Because the study happens during school, students have free evenings. They can join fun activities like "Super Saturdays" or sports without feeling worried about missing coaching.
- Different exams: Launchpad helps with JEE and NEET, but also with other important tests like NTSE and scholarship exams. This gives students more chances to succeed.
Why Launchpad at GCIS works better?
Coaching centers treat students like numbers, but GCIS keeps the school care. If any student struggles in Launchpad classes, school counselors and teachers help, not by scolding, but by supporting. They provide extra classes and emotional care so students don’t get too stressed.
For parents in Faridabad wondering how to help their kids crack IIT or AIIMS without spoiling their childhood, Launchpad’s way of mixing coaching with school life offers a great solution.
Conclusion
The days of juggling school and coaching classes are ending. Data shows 81% of students feel anxious, and costs keep rising, making this old way hard to keep up. Parents should stop searching for the best coaching center and start choosing the best prepared school.
Schools with integrated programs save students over 600 hours of travel in two years. Getting enough sleep and mental peace helps students score better in exams. Paying for one combined program is often cheaper than separate school and coaching fees.
Grand Columbus International School’s Launchpad is a great example. They include competitive exam prep during school hours, saving time, money, and protecting students’ mental health. When visiting schools, parents should ask if the school has such a program, if expert teachers run it, and if kids have free evenings. If yes, that school supports the child’s future well.
To learn more about this and other schools nearby, see this list of the top schools in Faridabad.
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