NEET coaching centres make hay in Trichy

With another season for the national eligibilitycum-entrance test (NEET) to select MBBS students looming, private coaching centres, some of them fly-by-night, have launched their spadework with new ideas. The new entrants are now hiring marketing executives to make their presence felt among schools across the city .Circulating advertisements in social media platforms, Guna academy at Karumandapam has called for marketing professionals to promote their activities in schools. With a couple of years into NEET coaching, director of the academy T Pugazhenthi says that "since the competition is going to be intense this year we need to make our presence felt."
Their idea was to promote the "talent search exam-2018" that the academy would be conducting in January . It would be a NEET-model test open for all and the high scorers would be offered free and concessional coaching.
While such strategies are adopted mostly by small coaching centres, established centres too are not ruling out the possibility of competition getting tough this season. Aakash, a well-known coaching centre which arrived in Trichy last year, has a three-member marketing team to promote its activities.
While admitting that Aakash was new to the city and that it did not have any tie-up with schools, branch manager Prashob Chandran C said that marketing activity did play a key role in the new market.They would change their strategy depending on how the scenario unfolds.
B Sudarkodi, director of Seekers, another NEET coaching centre in Trichy , said that they would intensify their campaign in the coming months. Marketing apart, she said that brands which main tained quality only could survive in the emerging market.She pointed out how around 500 students went to Kerala from Trichy alone last year for NEET coaching.
This meant that unless students were given quality coaching, no marketing strategy would work, she said.

Speaking on quality, S Sethuraman of Nivedita Career Academy , Thillai Nagar, said that marketing might not help the new entrants.
"Schools may not be interested in having a tie-up with lesser-known coaching centres," he said.
Sethuraman said he had observed the teaching methodology followed in Rajasthan and was trying to replicate it in Trichy.
The quality of faculty and the methodology had to be effective in producing results to remain in the market.