The central government recently issued new guidelines barring coaching institutes from admitting students below 16 years of age or those who are yet to complete secondary education. The new regulations including limited opening hours and compulsory week off, have come against the backdrop of frequent reports of students bearing undue stress and losing childhood, unregulated growth and fee structure of commercial education and fire incidents among others.
However, the new rules have come as a mixed bag with many parents, students and schools calling them “the much-needed respite” while others are apprehensive as it may result in seeding private tuitions and students struggling to clear competitive examinations.
LACK OF CLARITY
With the coaching centre trying to adapt quickly to new guidelines, this newspaper spoke to several stakeholders including the coaching institutes, parents and students over the guidelines and their impacts.
“The guidelines came recently and there is a lack of clarity. I think the coaching centres are mulling over how to readapt. But whatever the case, if the government has released certain guidelines, they need to be abided,” Shiv, the mentor at the Rankers Buzz Institute in Mayur Vihar, said.
However, Pradeep of Daksh Academy in Dwarka thinks it is too early to comment on the impact as nothing concrete can happen till the laws are framed. “It is too early to say if the coaching centres will be impacted as nothing is applicable till the time States do not formulate laws based on the guidelines,” he claimed while adding, “The centre’s main focus was Kota [Rajasthan] where students have undergone terrible pressure.”
JOB LOSS
Fearing job loss, one of the mentors at a NEET, JEE institute in Delhi, on the condition of anonymity said, “At present, the guidelines are just on papers, still there is a fear of losing jobs among the mentors. The main discussion is on planning to get jobs elsewhere. There are so many restrictions in the new rules and it may bring bad news for us.”
However, some parents and students are of the view that the new rules will fuel private tuition which is already costly.
“This is going to encourage private tuition. Teachers who were working in these centers, will now offer tuition and cost the guardians at least three times more with no scope for a scholarship,” a parent said who didn’t wished to be named.
Another parent, Vaishali Gupta, said that the new regulations may deprive students of a much-needed support system as after class 10, students take private tuition to score a high percentage. “Several
students have enrolled in coaching schools that also offer Class XI and XII admissions,” she claimed.“I believe some sort of professional support is necessary for the students to excel in a particular field or a subject,” she added.
Childhood matters
Many parents, child psychologists, academicians and teachers have come up openly in support of the government guidelines One of the parents, Kanika Kalia, said, “Late but appreciative.. at least kids will now live their childhood without entering into a rat race. They will have stories of school and not of coaching institute.”
But Dr Amita Wattal, an educationist believes rules must be more stringent as coaching institutes will find a way to bypass them. “The government needs to take more stringent actions against this coaching mafia comprising dummy schools and illegal coaching centres. The new guidelines talk about not allowing children below 16 years. But what about those students who after passing out from Class 10, hardly attend schools and join coaching centre.”
Dr Wattal also pointed out that with most universities admitting students through competitive exams rather Class 12 results, students have started taking plus 10 classes casually and are more focused on cracking examinations.”
Echoing the same views, Sumit Vohra, president of All India Parents’ Association, Delhi said, “It’s a very good step and punitive action should be taken against coaching institutes flouting guidelines. Also, there are many centers which are unregistered, running illegally and off the administration radar.”
Supporting Vohra, president of the Noida and Gurgaon Parents Association, Pradeep Rawat said, “The new guidelines will curb the exploitation of parents as fee structures will be monitored, children will not get psychological assistance by coaching institutes in case of mental stress, all details including teachers will be on website of coaching institutes, process of fee refund in case student is unhappy with quality of coaching will be easy and lastly, the penalties of Rs 25,000 to 1 lakh will ensure that coaching institutes don’t break these rules.”
SCHOOLS NEGLECTED
Bharat Arora, president of the Delhi Private Schools Association, said that the recent decision to establish an age floor for coaching centers is a positive step towards giving the importance of school education.
“In recent times, there has been a concerning trend where school education was overshadowed by the prevalence of tuition centers. This imbalance led to the inadequate development of students’ personalities, hindered the cultivation of essential life skills, and contributed to elevated stress levels. The initiative taken by the Ministry of Education is a welcome measure that aims to prioritize the well-rounded growth and joyful learning experiences of students across all educational levels”.
Students’ organisation—Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad—also supported the new regulations. ABVP National General Secretary, Yagywalkya Shukla, stated, “Numerous coaching centers operating without proper regulations and laws across the country have become a cause for concern for students, parents, and society at large. Effective implementation of these guidelines will pave the way for resolving issues associated with coaching centers.”
NEW GUIDELINES
According to the new guidelines, coaching centers can now only enroll students who are at least 16 years old. There are hundreds of coaching centres across the nation that have enrolled students of Class 8 to 12 preparing for engineering and medical examinations. The regulatory framework has been introduced to manage the unregulated growth of private coaching centres across the country.
The Education Ministry in its statement said, “The number of unregulated private coaching centres in the country continues to grow in the absence of any laid down policy or regulation. Instances of such centres charging exorbitant fees from students, undue stress on students resulting in students committing suicides, loss of precious lives due to fire and other accidents, and many other malpractices being adopted by these centers are widely reported in the media.”
According to the new regulations, there will be no coaching center that will be allowed to engage tutors having qualifications less than graduation. The institutions cannot make misleading promises or guarantee rank or good marks to parents for enrolling students in the coaching centres.
Also, the coaching institutes cannot publish or take part in the publication of any misleading advertisement relating to any claim, directly or indirectly, of quality of coaching or the facilities offered therein or the result procured by such coaching centre or the student who attended such class.
Moreover, the coaching centres cannot hire the services of any tutor or person who has been convicted of any offense involving moral turpitude. An institute will not be registered unless it has a counseling system as per the requirement of these guidelines.
“Coaching centres will have a website with updated details of the qualification of tutors, courses/curriculum, duration of completion, hostel facilities, and the fees being charged,” the guidelines stated.
Moreover, due to tough competition and academic pressure on students, coaching centres should take steps for the mental well-being of students and may conduct classes without putting undue pressure on them.
Apart from options for admission in engineering and medical institutes, information about other career options may be provided to the students, so that they do not get stressed about their future and can choose a new option of alternative careers.
The guidelines also ask the coaching centre to not make public the result of the assessment test conducted by it. Moreover, coaching centres should conduct periodic workshops and sensitization sessions regarding students’ mental health in collaboration with mental health professionals.
CLASSES
According to the guidelines, the coaching centre will ensure weekly off for students as well as tutors. There will be no assessment test/exam on the day after the weekly off.
During the important and popular festivals in the respective region, coaching centers will customize leave in such a manner that the students can connect with their family and get emotional boosting, the order said.
Moreover, coaching centers will conduct coaching classes in a way that it is not excessive for a student and it should not be more than five hours in a day and the coaching hours should neither be too early in the morning nor too late in the evening
The guidelines also direct coaching centers to organise classes for co-curricular activities for holistic development and enhancing the cognitive abilities of students. The coaching centres, while teaching core subjects should also organise counselling sessions.
The doubts of the student will be resolved by those tutors who have taught in the class so that the student feels satisfied.
FEES AND PENALTIES
The new rules say if the student has paid for the course in full and is leaving the course in the middle of the prescribed period, the student will be refunded out of the fees deposited earlier for the remaining period, on a pro-rata basis within 10 days. If the student is staying in the hostel of the coaching centre, then the hostel fees and mess fees will also be refunded.
In case of violation of any of the terms and conditions of registration or general conditions, the coaching center will be liable for penalties of Rs 25,000 first offence, revocation of registration for a subsequent offence and Rs 1,00,000 for the second offence
The guidelines also mention that the coaching institutes should provide adequate space — allocating a minimum of 1 square metre to each student in a class — and infrastructure, and ensure safety measures are in place.
FIRE INCIDENT
In June last year, 61 students were injured while trying to escape a four-storey commercial building occupied by hundreds when a fire on the ground floor a little after 12 pm filled the upper storeys with smoke in north Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar
The building, Bhandari House located in Batra Complex, is one of several commercial buildings leaning on each other in Mukherjee Nagar. The building which caught fire is constructed over a roughly 300 square yard plot and includes a basement, ground floor, and four upper floors. At least two large coaching centers, a bunch of smaller institutes, a library, an office, and some shops are among the establishments.
The Delhi High Court has recently directed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to allow the opening and operation of new coaching centers in Mukherjee Nagar only if they are compliant with building and fire safety norms as laid down in the Master Plan of Delhi (MPD), 2021.
The Delhi high court was considering a plea wherein it had taken a suo motu cognizance of the fire that had broken out at a coaching center in the Mukherjee Nagar area last year.
MPD 2021 permits coaching centers to function but mandates them to comply with the minimum area requirements, follow regularised construction and structural norms and also obtain the fire department’s no-objection certificate (NOC).
KOTA SUICIDES
Kota, a town in Rajasthan, also known as the mecca of coaching, has been witnessing a rise in the number of student suicides. According to official data, more than 100 people have died of suicide in the last 10 years.
Rajasthan government, last year,issued a series of directions, including urging tutors to decide the batches alphabetically instead of the students’ ranks in tests and not publish the results of routine tests in public. Moreover, the coaching centres in Kota have been asked to refrain from the glorification of toppers in a batch of aspirants. The tutors are directed to work towards discouraging competitiveness among students.
Across the country, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reported, in 2020, that a student took their own life every 42 minutes; or, in other words, 34 students died by suicide every day. In the same year, 11,396 children below the age of 18 had ended their lives. Around two lakh students flock to Kota annually, hoping to qualify for competitive exams like the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) for engineering and the NEET for admission to medical colleges.