GS Paper II

News Excerpt:

The Ministry of Education has issued guidelines for registering and regulating coaching centers.

Need for the Guidelines:

• To provide a framework for registering and regulating coaching centers.
• To suggest minimum standard requirements, run a coaching center.
• To safeguard the interest of students enrolled in coaching centers.
• To advise coaching centers’ focus on co-curricular activities as well as the holistic development of students.
• To provide career guidance and psychological counselling for the mental well-being of the students.

Objective of the Guidelines:

• To provide guidelines for the regulation of the coaching center for better guidance and assistance to the students in any study programme, competitive examinations, or academic support.

Definitions:

• ‘Coaching’ means tuition, instructions or guidance in any branch of learning imparted to more than 50 students but does not include counselling, sports, dance, theatre and other creative activities.
• ‘Coaching center’ includes a center, established, run, or administered by any person to provide coaching for any study programme or competitive examinations or academic support to students at school, college, and university levels, for more than 50 students.
• ‘Tutor’ means a person who guides or trains students in any coaching center and includes a tutor giving specialised tuition.
• ‘Proprietor’ means an owner of a coaching center seeking registration and includes the joint owner.
• ‘Appellate authority’ means an officer notified by the appropriate government.

Registration of the Coaching Center:

• Coaching centers existing on the date of implementation of the guidelines shall apply for registration within a period of three months from the date of implementation of the guidelines.

Conditions for Registration of the coaching centers:

• No coaching center shall -
• engage tutors having qualifications less than graduation.
• make misleading promises or guarantees of rank or good marks to parents/students for enrolling them in the coaching center.
• enrol students below 16 years of age, or enrolment should only be after the secondary school examination.
• Coaching center shall have a website with updated details of the qualification of tutors, courses/curriculum, duration of completion, hostel facilities (if any), the fees being charged, easy exit policy, fee refund policy, number of students undertaken coaching from the center and number of students finally succeeded in getting admission in Higher Education Institutions etc.

Fees:

• The coaching center shall supply the prospectus, notes, and other material to their enrolled students without separate fees.
• 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 the fees deposited earlier for the remaining period on a pro-rata basis within 10 days.
• Under no circumstances shall the fee on which enrolment has been made for a particular course and duration shall be increased during the course.

Curriculum:

• To keep students “connected with family” and receive “emotional boosting”, coaching centres, as suggested by the guidelines, will have to customise leaves. 
• Co-curricular activities, life skills, counselling from a psychologist, emotional bonding and mental well-being will have to be prioritised in coaching centres.

Infrastructure Requirements:

• Within the basic structure of the coaching center, a minimum of one square meter area may be allocated for each student during a class/batch.
• The coaching center building shall adhere to fire safety codes, building safety codes and other standards.
• A complaint box or register may be placed at the coaching center for the students to raise a complaint. 
• The coaching center shall have a committee for the redressal of complaints/grievances of students.
• Safe and potable drinking water shall be available for all students and staff of the Center. Provision of separate toilets for males and females shall be made within the coaching center building premises. 

Code of Conduct by the Coaching Center:

• In no case the number of students to be enrolled in each class/ batch shall be increased in class/batch during the course.
• The number of students admitted may align with the requirements of maintaining a healthy teacher-student ratio in each class.
• The coaching center shall not enrol students below 16 years of age, or the student enrolment should be only after the secondary school examination.

Counsellors and Psychologists Support:

• Coaching centers are encouraged to involve counsellors and experienced psychologists to counsel and provide psychotherapeutic services to students to resolve mental stress and depression.
• Framework for Mental Health Promotion -

Inclusivity and Accessibility:

• Special provisions may be made by the coaching center to encourage greater representation of students from vulnerable communities, such as female students, students with disabilities, and students from marginalised groups.
• The coaching center premises shall be Divyang-friendly and in compliance with the provisions of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.
• Divyang-friendly provisions such as braille, e-readers, toilets, etc. may be made wherever possible.

Restriction on shifting of Coaching center:

• Coaching center shall be conducting coaching only at the place indicated in the registration certificate and shall not be shifted to any other place than its registered place without the prior written approval of the competent authority on that behalf.

Disposal of complaints:

• A complaint may be filed before the competent authority against the coaching centers by the student, parent or tutor/employee of the coaching center and against the students/parents by the coaching centers. 
• The complaints shall be disposed of within thirty days by the competent authority.

Penalties:

• In case of violation of any of the terms and conditions of registration or general conditions, the coaching center shall be liable for penalties as follows:
• Rs 25,000/- for first offence
• Rs. 1,00,000/- for the second offence
• Revocation of registration for subsequent offence

Conclusion:

The guidelines released are comprehensive and have adequate safety measures for students as well as parents. It should be ensured that guidelines are followed in practice. Education is in the concurrent list, and the State and UT Governments also need to take proactive action on the matter. The state government should monitor the activities of the coaching centre and enquire about any coaching centre regarding the fulfilment of the required eligibility of registration.