oppn parties Regulating Coaching Centres

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  • PM Modi says that if Congress is voted to power in Haryana, the state will face the same financial problems that Himachal is facing under the party's rule
  • Competition Commission of India has said that smartphone majors are colluding with e-commerce firms to exclusively launch products on their platforms in alleged breach of anti-trust laws
  • Supreme Court rules that delay in claiming compensation for land acquisition by the government is no excuse to deny it as it is the duty of the government to pay the compensation.
  • PM Modi said that terrorism was breathing its last in J&K
  • Conbgress has alleged that Sebi chief Madhabi Buch traded in listed securities and invested in China-focused funds during her tnure at the agency
  • India to sing $4bn Predator drone deal with US
  • Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has disclosed that the opposition parties backed him as Prime Minister in place of Narendra Modi but he refused.
  • Noted economist Ajit Ranade removed as VC of Gokhale Institute of Politics & Economics in Pune due to not fulfilling eligibility criteria related to teaching experience
  • Chess Olympiad: Arjun Erigaisi wins his fourth consecutive game
  • Asian Champions Trophy hockey- India beat Pakistan 2-1 in a tough match to remain unbeaten in the group stage. They will meet Korea in the semifinals
  • Davis Cup: S Balaji and R Ramanathan lose, India 0-2 down on first day
  • Delhi Police arrested Sangram Dass, said to be the kingpin of an inter-state new-born baby tafficking racket, from Kolkata after a 1500-km chase
  • NC leader Omar Abdullah alleged that the B|JP was forging secret deals with some regional parties and independents to form the government in J&K
  • Rajasthan Police has devised a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), as directed by the Rajasthan HC, to help married and live-in couples facing threats from families and others. It icludes helplines and safe houses
  • A 3-storey building collapsed in the busy Transport Nager area in Lucknow killing 8 and injuring 28 others
Junior doctors do not agree to meet Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee without live-streaming of meeting /////// CBI arrests ex-principal of R G Kar College Sandip Ghosh and OC of Tala PS in Kolkata, Abhijit Mondal' for destrcution of evidence in the rape-murder case
oppn parties
Regulating Coaching Centres

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2024-01-19 14:07:17

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.

In a major policy decision regarding coaching centres (shops?), the Centre has notified new rules for registration and running of such centres. The Centre is concerned about the growth of unregulated coaching centres in the absence of any guidelines and the high rate of suicide among students attending coaching classes. All coaching centres will have to register with the authorities mandatorily before starting operations and existing centres will have to apply afresh. Each branch of coaching centre chains will be treated as a separate, stand-alone entity. An institute will not be granted registration if it does not have a student counseling system. The centres will be penalized up to Rs 1 lakh or their registration maybe cancelled for violating the rules.

No coaching centre can engage tutors who are not graduates. They are barred from hiring teachers who have been convicted for moral turpitude. Additionally they are barred from charging exorbitant fees. The rules prescribe that if students leave mid-way in a course, the fee paid by them has to be refunded on pro-rata basis. Henceforth, all coaching centres will mandatorily have a website where updated information like fee structure for each course, qualification of teachers hired, course/curriculum, and duration for completion, among other things, will be uploaded. The centres are also barred from issuing misleading advertisements or making false/misleading claims on results achieved and students who attended classes in their centre.

The biggest change in rule, one that is likely to hurt a majority of these coaching shops, is the requirement that no centre will enroll students below the age of 16 or those who have not passed the secondary (Class X) examination. All coaching centres have, going by the belief that an early start gives students a competitive advantage, enrolling students as young as 14 years, or ones who are in Class IX (although some so-called 'techno schools' do this in-house from as early as class VI). There are arguments both for and against starting coaching at an early age, but given the extreme pressure, the high suicide rate in students of coaching centres and the fact that children lose a good part of their childhood if pushed so early, it is welcome that the government has capped the enrolment age at 16 years.