Regulating coaching centres

Source: This post has been created based on the article “Regulating coaching centres” published in “Business Standard” on 24^th January 2024.

UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS Paper 2 Social Justice – Issues relating to Education.

News: The article discusses the provisions in the guidelines for regulating coaching centres and the challenges in implementing them.

Background:

The government recently laid out guidelines for coaching centres due to news of a growing number of student suicides and accusations of misleading claims in advertisements.

What are the provisions in the guidelines for coaching centers?

1. A coaching centre must have more than 50 students with a minimum age limit of 16 years.
2. All teachers must be graduates.
3. The centre must not make false promises.
4. Fees from students leaving a course halfway must be refunded.
5. Classes must not be held during regular school hours, and they should not exceed five hours a day.
6. Periodic sensitisation sessions for students with mental health professionals.
7. Assessment tests should remain confidential.
8. Basic requirements such as fire and building safety codes, medical treatment facilities and adequate ventilation and lighting in classrooms.

What are the challenges in regulating coaching centres?

According to the author, these guidelines are unlikely to bring about any significant change due to the following reasons:

1. Large Number of Coaching Centres: This will make it challenging to monitor standards with any degree of efficacy.
2. Lack of Clarity regarding Redressal Mechanism: The guidelines refer to a “competent authority” without specifying the nature of this body.
3. Jurisdictional Issues: The regulation of education at the 10+2 level falls within the jurisdiction of states and Union Territories. Monitoring standards could be different based on the local governments.
4. Small Amount as Penalty: The penalties are unlikely to act as a deterrent. It is just Rs. 25,000 for the first offence and Rs. 1 lakh for the second, and registration revocation for any subsequent breach.
5. Online Classes not Covered: The guidelines also do not appear to cover online classes, where violation of standards could be more rampant.
6. Structural Issues:
7. Lack of Quality Institutions: A lack of quality engineering, management and medical institutes intensifies competition for a limited number of seats at IITs, IIMs, etc.
8. Deficiency in the Job Market: The low availability of employment, especially one that offers perks and benefits, leads to cut-throat competition.

Thus, changing this will require deeper economic reforms to expand the job market so that coaching centres gradually lose their current significance.

Question for practice:

Regulating coaching centres in India is the need of the hour but will be a huge challenge. Discuss.