BENGALURU : The recently announced guidelines by the Ministry of Education directed that coaching centres across the country cannot enrol students below 16 years of age or make misleading promises and guarantee rank or good marks. Coaching institutes in Bengaluru say that regulation and government registration are a positive move, however not allowing coaching before the age of 16 years can affect students’ foundation as schools might not give individual attention. Experts opined that the guidelines legitimise the illegality of these institutions by providing a framework, instead, they should be banned completely.
Speaking to TNIE, Niranjanaradhya VP, Educationist said that running coaching institutions goes against the idea of verified education institutions and paves way to parallel organisations mushrooming all over the country. “The guidelines mention that coaching classes can conduct classes for 5 hours a day, which means that students will have to finish at least 7 school hours and then go for coaching. This will turn them into bookworms and guarantee no leisure activities.” He added that though the move is to curb suicides among students, this will aggravate the issue.
Meanwhile, coaching institutes in the city said the onus is just not on them, parents should be counselled too. Vivekananda, Chairman of Neat Academy opined, “In schools, there are 50-60 students in a classroom. Not everyone can grasp what the teacher is teaching and there is no time for individual focus. If the government makes coaching illegal how will students progress, their concepts will not be clear.
Another faculty member, Prashanth Kumar from Prakash Academy said parents are only pressuring their children to score and accusing coaching centres of not doing a good job. “The rules state that if a student drops out of the class, they should be refunded. But in many cases, students don’t perform well and parents don’t end up paying fees for semesters at stretch. Who is accountable for that?” he questioned.
Aradhya asserted that these guidelines are ‘very unfair’ and ‘dangerous’ and tend to legalize proprietorship of such institutions. Ganesh Bhatt another expert in the field stated that these guidelines will further promote the integration of educational institutions with coaching classes– turning education into marketing. “Strong stipulations are needed to follow these new rules and implementation should be seen by a regulatory body or individuals will find loopholes. So many classes don’t have the basic infrastructure in place including ventilation. These should not be allowed to register,” Bhatt added.
The guidelines
The guidelines apply to centres with a student capacity of more than
50 individuals
Centres must apply for registrations with competent authority
Enrolment restricted to 16 years of age (post-secondary exam)
Fees should be reasonable with details, good infrastructure
A robust complaint system and exit policy by state governments
Penalties of Rs 25,000 for first offence and 1 lakh for second