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When your child comes home and says "the coaching teachers are bad", it can mean many things. The physics teacher may really rush through derivations. Or rotational motion may simply be hard, and the teacher is the easiest person to blame. Both happen, and the fix is different for each. This guide helps you work out which one you are dealing with, what to ask, and what to do next, in order.
Why does my child say the coaching teachers are bad?
Often the complaint is real. Sometimes it is a feeling about effort rather than about teaching. In a randomised experiment with college students, published in PNAS in 2019, Louis Deslauriers and colleagues compared passive lectures with active learning using identical course materials, and found that students in the active classroom learned more but felt they learned less. The authors traced part of this gap to the extra mental effort active learning demands.
For a coaching student, the takeaway is simple. A teacher who makes you attempt problems before showing the method can feel worse than one who solves everything smoothly on the board, even when you are learning more. So "I don't understand anything in class" needs a closer look before anyone is blamed.
How can you tell a real teaching problem from frustration?
Ask your child to keep a simple log for two weeks, one line per class: topic, what was unclear, and whether it cleared up after homework or a doubt session. Then read it together. Patterns tend to show up.
Signs it may be a teaching problem:
Many students in the batch, not just your child, report the same issue with the same teacher.
The syllabus is moving faster than the published schedule, or topics are skipped.
Doubts are brushed off, or doubt sessions are rarely held.
Homework and tests do not match what was taught in class.
The teacher changes often, and each new one restarts or repeats chapters.
Signs it is more likely frustration with the subject:
The complaint is about one subject that your child also finds hard in school.
Confusion clears after a few days of practice.
Your child has not yet asked a single doubt.
The trouble started after a low test score.
What questions should you ask your child?
Keep it calm and specific. You are gathering evidence, not taking sides. Try:
"Which teacher, and which topic? Show me one thing from this week you didn't get."
"What did you try after class? Did you ask anyone?"
"Do your friends in the batch feel the same?"
"If you could change one thing about the class, what would it be?"
"Is it the teaching, or are you feeling tired and behind in general?"
If the conversation turns tense, our guide on talking to your teenager about marks without a fight has phrasing that keeps it from becoming a blame game.
What are your options, from doubt sessions to a batch change?
Work up this ladder one step at a time, giving each step about two weeks:
Targeted doubt sessions. Your child brings two or three written questions, each with their attempt. A teacher can only fix a doubt they can see.
Independent practice on the weak topic. If the gap is one method, the Fermi Problem Library has worked problems with a step-by-step solver that explains the reasoning, which your child can compare with their own working before the next class.
A meeting with the faculty or academic coordinator. Bring the log, not general complaints. Our list of parent-teacher meeting questions that lead to real follow-up works here too.
A batch or faculty change. Ask in writing, and ask what changes: timing, teacher, pace.
Leaving the institute. Read the exit and refund terms before deciding.
On that last step, the Ministry of Education's Guidelines for Regulation of Coaching Center, circulated to States and UTs on 16 January 2024, say a coaching centre should have a website with tutor qualifications, fees, an easy exit policy and a fee refund policy. The same official release notes that education is on the Concurrent List and that a number of states and UTs have since issued their own rules, so check what applies in your state and keep the institute's policy in writing.
When is it not about the teacher at all?
Sometimes "the teachers are bad" is the only way a tired, anxious teenager can say "I am not coping". Watch for poor sleep, withdrawal, or dread before every class. These call for a different kind of help. Talk to a school counsellor or doctor, or call Tele MANAS, the national mental-health helpline, at 14416 or 1800-891-4416, free and 24x7.
If you are choosing a new coaching centre after all this, start with our checklist on how to evaluate a coaching institute before you pay the fee.
