Meet the coaching class killers

Six exstudents of Juhursquos DJ Sanghvi College of Engineering who like to call themselves the lsquoStupid Sidrsquo gang have started a unique learning programme which is a great alternative to expensive coaching classes The Stupid Sid Learning Programme started in January 2012 ropes in outstanding students from different engineering colleges in the city to tutor firstyear engineering students at a nominal costu00a0 The Stupid Sid gang mdash left to right Siddhaarth Bhandari Jinesh Bagadia Shubham Doshi Tumull Buch Kashyap Matani and Sumeet Jain Pic Anita Anand u00a0 Kashyap Matani a 23 yearold member of the group recalls ldquoIn February 2010 when we were in our third year we developed a website wwwstupidsidcom which was a onestop solution for students aspiring to secure admission to collegesrdquo Soon after the site became a hit a professor from Sardar Patel of Engineering Andheri west approached the group and expressed his desire to teach junior students for free ldquoThe response was very good We were charging students Rs 700 to teach Mathematics instead of the exorbitant Rs 10000 per subject per semester that coaching classes and private tutors charge these daysrdquo says 23 yearold Sumeet Jain another member of the group ldquoWe charged them a nominal amount as we had to incur the costs of renting out a place for the classes and electricityrdquo explains 22 yearold Shubham Doshi another member Itrsquos after other professors turned down the request to conduct similar classes citing lucrative deals with other coaching classes that a brainwave hit the sextet ldquoWe decided to ask outstanding senior engineering students from reputed colleges in the city to teach junior studentsrdquo says 22 yearold Siddhaarth Bhandari They put up notices on their website inviting senior students and approached engineering colleges in the city ldquoWe asked students who had applied to give us a demo lecture Guides were selected based on their ability to explain concepts wellrdquo explains 22 yearold Jinesh Bagadia ldquoWe charge them Rs 1500 per subject per semester The student guide earns Rs 500 whereas the rest is kept aside for rent and electricity bills The amount that is retained is kept aside for miscellaneous administrative costsrdquo explains Jain They managed to recruit six guides to teach students for the second semester in rented places at Dadar and Andheri ldquoTwenty three students signed up for the classes at Dadar and 80 students for the classes at Andheri for the batch in January this yearrdquo smiles 23 yearold Tumull Buch The guides seem to have loved the teaching experience Twenty one yearold Vaibhav Shah fourthyear student at DJ Sanghvi who teaches Maths to junior students says ldquoWe were in their position three years ago so we know exactly what doubts they may have It feels really great when a student calls you up and tells you that heshe passed with good marksrdquo Similarly 20 yearold Anand Joshi from Sardar Patel College of Engineering who teaches Mechanics says ldquoProfessors teach in the same old way they have been teaching for years Being a student myself it is easier for me to talk to the juniors in their languagerdquo Suryansh Haria 18 yearold firstyear engineering student of DJ Sanghvi who attended the Stupid Sid Learning Programme in his second semester agrees ldquoSince the generation gap is smaller we donrsquot hesitate to approach them with doubts The guides lay emphasis on practical learning and quote recent examples of new inventions All this makes learning an interesting processrdquo Encouraged the team has now finalised twelve more guides taking the total number to 18 This set will teach students during the first semester that began yesterday Therersquos also a new centre coming up at Nerul ldquoWe plan to start similar learning programmes for students in Pune and Bengaluru We want to end the blatant commercialisation of teaching in the name of coaching classesrdquo signs off Doshiu00a0