Mumbai gets an Avanti code to crack IIT entrance

American boxer Sugar Ray Robinson's famous quote is finding its echo in Sion. 

As you enter the small office of Avanti Coaching, the first board that draws your attention reads: 'To be a champ, you have to believe in yourself when no one else will.' 

And champs are what Avanti is churning out. Started by two former IIT-ians, the coaching institute helps economically weaker students to prepare for medical and engineering entrance exams. 

While the poor are imparted free training, Avanti charges Rs 70,000 from those who can afford to pay. Most coaching institutes levy more than Rs 2 lakh. 

The teaching method adopted for the two-year course is also different. Instruction videos, peer interactions, colour cards and doubt-solving sessions are a few of the tools used here. 

Brainchild of two IIT pass-outs – Krishna Ramkumar and Akshay Saxena – Avanti was set up in 2010. Both of them left their high-paying corporate jobs and soon eight other former IITians joined them.

Since inception, 250 students have underwent coaching here and 50 have made it to IITs and 100 to other colleges like Veermata Jeejabai Technological Institute. Avanti now has six centres in Mumbai.

For medical entrance also, the teaching process is the same. Avanti teachers try and get students admitted into government colleges like KEM and Nair as the training is intensive and students get good exposure during internships.

“We follow a uniform process across our rural and urban centres. Our aim is to ensure all aspirants get admission into good engineering colleges,” says Saxena.

“We do not focus only in producing IITians. Around 30% candidates get into IITs or BITS, Pilani. The rest get admitted to other premier engineering colleges,” says Abbas Dadla, curriculum head, Avanti. 

So how do they raise money? “We need to have some income to meet our expenses like rent and other provisions. Hence we have integrated centres. Fr Agnel Instiute in Vashi is one of those centres where students who can afford to pay can get coaching,” said Ramkumar. But this fee never exceeds Rs 70,000.

“Our curriculum is our highlight. The first step before starting a chapter is to make the students go through their school books to understand the basics. This will be followed by a complete self-study process through online videos and reference books, where the basic concept will be explained through illustrations and other teaching aids. 

“After this, we help students to solve problems through peer interaction. This session is very popular as students are more comfortable sharing doubts with friends. In between all of this, we have graduates from IITs conducting doubt-solving sessions,” says Ramkumar.

“During peer interaction sessions, we give each student four colour cards. They will be asked an objective question and have to give answers by showing a card,” says Dadla. 

Most of the times, their answers differ. We then ask them to discuss among each other. When the person with the right answer manages to convince others with the right logic, their answers the second time would be right.

This is followed by an explanation to students about the answer by the facilitator. Thus, every student, including the last bencher, is attentive and actively interact in class. We also have regular tests to assess the progress of every candidate,” says Dadla.

Now, are they not champs in the making?