New Guidelines for Coaching Centers

This article has been written by- Susanna Sharma, LL.M, West Bengal National University of  Juridical Sciences.

The Ministry of Education, Government of India released guidelines on Coaching centers in the month of January 2024. The guidelines have been provided keeping in mind the unregulated nature of coaching centers. Over the past years, we have heard news of frequent suicide by students, multiple fire incidents, exorbitantly high prices and unnecessary pressure on young minds in the country. These guidelines are called Guidelines for Registration and Regulation of Coaching Centre 2024.

What is a coaching centre?

A coaching centre provides coaching and preparation for students to write various competitive exams and academic help to students of schools and colleges. A coaching centre has more than 50 students enrolled under it.

Guidelines for Coaching Centres

The following guidelines have been laid down for coaching centers in India:

• MINIMUM QUALIFICATION OF TUTORS

The guidelines prescribe the minimum qualification for a tutor of a coaching centre. It states that all tutors engaged in a coaching centre must be a graduate. The minimum qualification is a graduate.

• REGISTRATION

All coaching centres in India must register themselves. An application must be made for registration along with fees. After registration, each coaching centre must use the word ‘registered coaching centre’, it cannot use other words such as ‘recognized’ or ‘approved’.

• AGE LIMITATION

The guidelines have specifically put in place limitation with respect to the age of the students studying in coaching classes. It states that a coaching centre cannot enroll any student below the age of 16 years. Thus no child below the age of 16 can be enrolled. Students can also enroll themselves if they have cleared their secondary school examination.

• TRANSPARENCY

The guidelines also talk about the need of transparency of the coaching centres. It states that every coaching centre must have a website with their updated details, such as the fees of the coaching, the courses offered, the qualification of the tutors, number of students, any other facilities, etc.

• REASONABLE FEES

The guidelines also provide for reasonable fees to be charged by the coaching centres. It states that the tuition fees should be fair and reasonable, and proper receipts are to be provided. Information regarding the fees must be mentioned in the websites and their prospectus. It also mandates that the fee of an ongoing course cannot be increased.

• NO FALSE ADVERTISING

Coaching centres should not make false and misleading advertisements about their centres in order to attract students. All the information must be true and bonafide.

• PROPER INFRASTRUCTURE

The guidelines also talk about proper infrastructure requirements of coaching centres for the health and safety of the children. It includes having proper classroom area, proper fire safety, medical assistance in case of emergencies, women helpline, well ventilated, safe drinking water, CCTV facilities everywhere and separate toilets for male and female students.

• PROPER CURRICULUM

The coaching centres cannot conduct classes of more than 5 hours on one day, they must provide weekly offs to the students. It also states no exams or test can be conducted after such weekly offs. This is to make sure that a student is not pressurised beyond capability. The timings of the coaching classes cannot be too early in the morning or too late in the evening.

• MENTAL WELL-BEING OF STUDENTS

The coaching centres must also look after the mental well being of the students. Periodic workshops and encouraging sessions must be organised. Mental health of the students must be looked after.

• PUNISHMENT FOR NON-COMPLIANCE

The guidelines also state the penalty for violating any of the terms of the guidelines, the penalty for a first offence is Rs 25,000/- and the second offence is Rs 1,00,000/-. Subsequent violations will lead to the revocation of the registration of such centres.

CONCLUSION

These guidelines are a result of continuous debate and discussion on the increasing pressure related to studies and competitive exams on young kids. This pressure is sometimes exploited by coaching centers to extract money from enthusiastic parents. These guidelines will ensure that students and parents are well aware of the coaching centers and no young kid below the age of 16 is pressurized into taking up coaching. This to protect the mental health of the students and the parents. This is a wonderful step taken by the Government for the future of our nation.