Coaching centre
A room, benches and someone who can teach; the capital is close to nothing. But government orders close every coaching centre for two to three months a year around the public exams.
- Last reviewed: 19 September 2026
- Version 1
- Starting capital
- ৳20,000 – ৳2,00,000 Editorial estimate
- Manpower
- 1 – 8 people
- First sale
- 7 – 30 days Editorial estimate
- Break-even
- 2 – 6 months Editorial estimate
- Kind of work
- Shop · Easy
What the business is
A room, a few benches, a board and someone who can teach. That is all a coaching centre needs, so the capital is close to nothing and getting in is easy. Staying in is not. The demand is real and large: one education study found that more than three-quarters of primary and secondary students go to private tutors or coaching centres, and that tutors' fees and guide books are the largest items in what households spend on schooling. In 2022 a household spent Tk 27,340 a year on a secondary student and Tk 13,882 on a primary one, and in the first six months of 2023 that spending rose 51 percent at secondary level and 25 percent at primary. The problem is not demand, it is the continuity of income. The Ministry of Education orders all coaching centres shut during the public exams. In 2025 they were closed from 26 June to 15 August for the HSC; in 2024 for 44 days from 29 June, and before that for a month for the SSC. That is two to three months a year with the shutters down while the room rent still falls due. And students come for a teacher, not for a signboard: when the teacher leaves, the batch leaves with him.
Unit economics
| Item | Range | Evidence | Suggest a correction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly working capital | ৳5,000 – ৳80,000 | Editorial estimate | |
| Selling price | ৳380 – ৳3,100 / unit | Editorial estimate | |
| Variable cost | ৳190 – ৳1,250 / unit | Editorial estimate | |
| Gross margin | 50% – 60% | Editorial estimate | |
| Time to first revenue | 7 – 30 days | Editorial estimate | |
| Break-even time | 2 – 6 months | Editorial estimate | |
| Cash cycle | 0 – 30 days | Editorial estimate | |
| Waste / loss | 5% – 15% | Editorial estimate | |
| Daily capacity | 2 – 6 | Editorial estimate |
What you need to start
- Benches and tables, a white or black board, markers or chalk, fans and lights, an attendance register and a way to print test papers. White writing paper is Tk 34-40 a dista on the TCB list.Equipment
- Notes, question banks and model test papers. Research found that 92 percent of primary and 93 percent of secondary students depend on guide books, so having your own notes is a real advantage.Starting stock
- Trade licence from the city corporation or municipality: form Tk 10, licence book Tk 50, standard tax Tk 30, stamp Tk 150-300, licence fee Tk 100-60,000 by trade type. Issued in 3-5 working days.Licence
- Compliance with Ministry of Education closure orders: every coaching centre in the country must shut during the public exams. In 2025 that was 26 June to 15 August for the HSC, in 2024 forty-four days from 29 June, and a month for the SSC. There is no fee attached, but it is the heaviest regulatory constraint on income.Licence
- Command of the subject and the ability to explain it in a room. Students come for the teacher's name, and a bad result empties the batch the following month.Skill
- One or two rooms within walking distance of a school or college, with seating and ventilation. The rent advance is the single biggest one-off cost, but it varies by locality and could not be verified here.Workspace
How the work runs
- 1Decide which class and which subject you will teach. Taking every class and every subject builds a name in none of them, and the name is the only advertising here.
- 2Take a room within walking distance of a school or college. Students come before or after class, so distance decides the size of the batch.
- 3Take the trade licence from the city corporation or municipality. Ask your own upazila education office whether any separate licence exists for a coaching centre.
- 4Put in benches, a board, fans and lights. If students cannot sit properly or cannot read the board, the batch breaks up in the first month.
- 5Put the fee and the payment date in writing on the wall. Collecting in the first week stops arrears building; collecting at month end means a departing student's fee is never recovered.
- 6Take attendance daily and watch who has stopped coming. Students leave quietly rather than telling you, and the attendance register is what warns you first.
- 7Hold a test every month and show the result to the parents. This business is advertised by word of mouth among parents, and the result is what makes them talk.
- 8Budget for the exam-season closures. In 2025 all coaching centres were shut from 26 June to 15 August for the HSC, and in 2024 for 44 days from 29 June. Set aside those months' rent in advance.
- 9If you hire teachers, settle the revenue share first. Students come for the teacher, so when the teacher goes the batch goes too.
- 10Respect the restrictions on teaching your own school's students. Schools themselves have been ordering their teachers to stop coaching and private tuition.
Seasons
- JanNormal
- FebLow
- MarLow
- AprNormal
- MayNormal
- JunNormal
- JulLow
- AugLow
- SepNormal
- OctNormal
- NovNormal
- DecNormal
Where it fits
- Strong fitChattogram · A large city with many well-known schools and colleges and parents able to spend.
- Strong fitDhaka · The greatest concentration of schools and colleges, and the centre of admission and job exam preparation, though competition is fiercest here.
- Strong fitRajshahi · Known as an education city, with a large admission-coaching market around its university and colleges.
- PossibleBogura · The urban centre of the north, thick with both schools and coaching centres.
- PossibleCumilla · The district town has well-regarded institutions and remittance households able to pay fees.
- PossibleMymensingh · An old education centre, drawing students into the town from surrounding upazilas.
- PossibleRangpur · The divisional town is crowded with colleges and schools, though parents have less capacity to pay fees.
- PossibleSylhet · Remittance households tend to spend more on private tuition and coaching for their children.
Risks and cautions
- HighCompliance: The Ministry of Education orders every coaching centre in the country shut during the public exams, and not for a few days. In 2025 that ran from 26 June to 15 August for the HSC, close to seven weeks. In 2024 it was 44 days from 29 June, a separate month for the SSC, and another 22 days at the end of December. Two to three months a year with no income while the rent still falls due, and the orders come with only days of notice.
- HighDependency: A coaching centre is really one person. Parents ask who is teaching, not what the signboard says. When a good teacher opens his own centre in the next lane almost the whole batch goes with him, and filling that gap with a new teacher takes at least an academic year.
- HighDemand: Keeping students is the whole job. They arrive before an exam and leave quietly once it is over, and the next batch has to be built from scratch. Demand is not the problem: research found that more than three-quarters of primary and secondary students go to private tutors or coaching centres. But where they go changes every year, and no published figure exists for what share stays on into the next one.
- MediumWorking capital: Low capital makes it look low-risk, but the rent advance is money locked up and it is not easy to get back. If the batch does not fill, or a closure month arrives, the rent still has to be paid every month, and a few empty months close most small centres.
- MediumOther: The rules around coaching keep tightening. Schools have been ordering their own teachers to stop coaching and private tuition on the premises, and on 24 August 2026 judicial service officers were barred from commercial coaching. For anyone running a centre alongside a job, such a rule can end the business overnight.
Sources
সিটি কর্পোরেশন থেকে ট্রেড লাইসেন্স প্রাপ্তির ধাপ সমূহ
Collected: 16 Sept 2026Supports: Starting capital, Time to first revenue · বাংলাদেশ
- Collected: 15 Sept 2026
Supports: Starting capital · ঢাকা মহানগর — সিপাহীবাগ, মিরপুর-৬, মোহাম্মদপুর টাউন হল, নিউমার্কেট, রামপুরা, মহাখালী বাজার
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