- Instances of centres charging exorbitant fees from students, undue stress on students resulting in them committing suicides, loss of precious lives due to fire and many other malpractices have been widely reported among mediapersons
Coaching centres providing training for professional courses would now require to be registered and can’t enroll students below 16 years of age or charge exorbitant fees from them. Centres should provide psychological and mental health support to students besides confirming with fire safety and building safety norms as per the latest guidelines released by the Ministry of Education for regulating private coaching centres across the country. Keeping in view the issues related to the rising student suicide cases, fire incidents, lack of facilities and teaching methodologies, the Government of India issued guidelines for Registration and Regulation of Coaching Centre 2024 and forwarded them to Chief Secretaries of all States and Union territories for taking appropriate action.
The main objective of these guidelines is for the regulation of coaching centres for better guidance and assistance to students in any study programme, competitive examinations or academic support. As per the guidelines entrusted on coaching centres, a person shall impart coaching or establish, run, manage or maintain a coaching centre, only with prior registration. The issues related to private coaching centres in the context of rising student suicides cases, fire incidents, lack of facilities as well as methodologies of teaching have been engaging the attention of the Government from time to time. The guidelines also stressed upon obtaining a fire safety and building safety certificate besides providing fully electrified, well-ventilated, separate toilets and sufficient lighting arrangements in each classroom of the building.
For assisting students, coaching centres shall have to arrange for first-aid kits and medical assistance/treatment facility. List of referral services like hospitals, doctors for emergency services, police helpline details, fire service helpline, women helpline and others should be displayed for students. The Department of Consumer Affairs has also taken up the matter for taking necessary action under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 against coaching centres/private higher education institutions who publish misleading advertisements.
To ensure the smooth running of coaching centres, they should be conducting coaching only at the place indicated in the registration certificate and should not be shifted to any other place than its registered place. If the coaching centre violates any of the terms mentioned in the guidelines, it shall be liable for penalties of ₹25,000 for first offence, ₹1 lakh for second time violation and revocation of registration for subsequent offence. On fees, the guidelines provide that it shall be ‘fair and reasonable’ and shall not be increased during the duration of the course. Further, if a student has paid in full and prefers to leave the course mid-way, the student would be refunded for the remaining period of the course, which would also include hostel and mess fees.
While proposing minimum standard requirements required to run a coaching centre, the guidelines stressed on obtaining a fire safety and building safety certificate besides providing fully electrified, well ventilated, separate toilets and sufficient lighting arrangements in each classroom of the building. To help students achieve their goals, the guidelines also focus on educational environment, cultural living, realities and difference between preparation of school level examinations and competitive examination.
Keeping in view the high competition and academic pressure on students, the guidelines state that coaching centres should take steps for mental well-being of the students and conduct classes without putting undue pressure on its students. They should also establish the mechanism for immediate intervention to provide targeted and sustained assistance to students in distress and stressful situation. During important and popular festivals in the respective region, coaching centres should customize leave in such a manner that the students would be able to connect with their family and get emotional boosting.
As part of counselling the coaching centre should establish peer group interaction. It shall organize group-based curricular exercises in discussions, competitions and projects to stimulate effective approach towards students for them to face difficulties in the competitive world. To administer productive results among children, the government said that special provisions should be made by the coaching centre to encourage greater representation of students from vulnerable communities such as female students, students with disabilities and students from marginalized groups.
To ease the preparation for governmental exams, the government has been taking initiatives in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, to address issues like Common University Entrance Test (CUET), conducting entrance examination in 13 regional languages, substantial expansion of the number of seats in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and setting up of more high-quality Higher Education Institutions. The National Curriculum Framework (NCF) has also been taking clear steps to address the curricular matters in schools and matters pertaining to Board examinations that contribute to the current undesirable situation. In order to help the students to practice well for NEET (UG) and JEE (Main) entrance examinations, the National Testing Agency (NTA), launched a mobile app ‘National Test Abhyas’ to facilitate candidates’ access to high quality mock tests online free of cost.
The guidelines proposed by the government of India have been administered to every coaching centre in India to promote holistic development of children around the country and to help them achieve their goals in the education sector.
Guidelines laid for all the coaching centres:
