After a period of lull following the death of three Indian Administrative Services aspirants in the basement of Delhi’s Rau’s IAS Study Circle, the city’s coaching hubs came back into the limelight after Drishti IAS, a top coaching centre for the Civil Services Examination announced relocating from Mukherjee Nagar, a coaching hub in Delhi.
According to several news reports, following its closure by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for not adhering to safety and government regulations, the coaching centre will shift base to Noida.
However, it is being speculated that this is not the only coaching centre planning to move out of localities like Old Rajinder Nagar and Mukherjee Nagar. This development comes following the MCD’s closure of 20 coaching institutes for their noncompliance with safety regulations.
This begs the question — what does this exodus of coaching centres mean for these hubs? Would such a move bode well with coaching centres?
Enforcement of safety compliance
One of the most shocking revelations following Rau’s IAS Study Circle incident is that a majority of coaching centres do not adhere to building and safety compliance norms — and that the aspirants lost their lives due to this lackadaisical approach. It was also found that many coaching centres, which also use their basements as study rooms, did not possess safety clearances.
According to the Master Plan for Delhi, 2021, coaching centres that use their basements for operation must possess No Objection Certificates and clearance certificates from the Police and fire departments.
While shocking, this is not the first occurrence of a freak accident in a coaching centre in Delhi due to norms being flouted. In 2023, a fire in a coaching centre in Mukherjee Nagar left 61 students injured, prompting the MCD to seal all coaching centres which violated the Delhi Master Plan of 2021. In this sealing drive, the MCD inspected 51 coaching centres and found that none of them possessed an NOC.
With the MCD coming down heavily on coaching centres yet again, many hope that there will be more adherence to compliance norms henceforth.
“Coaching institutes, big and small, are now on tenterhooks. With scrutiny from the government and the public, they realised that they cannot bypass safety regulations anymore,” says Ravi Kapoor, former officer in the Indian Revenue Services and Chief Mentor at Testbook.
He adds that coaching centres now know that the cost of not having safety measures in place is the lives of the students.
“Impossible to operate in areas like Mukherjee Nagar”
Moreover, moving out of coaching hubs like Mukherjee Nagar and Old Rajinder Nagar gives coaching centres new markets and geographical locations to disrupt, experts argue.
“It can be speculated that Drishti’s move to Noida helps it attract new enrollments into its Hindi-medium segment from Uttar Pradesh. In a sense, it is not being pushed out of Mukherjee Nagar, but rather, pulled to Noida,” says Ravi Kapoor.
DNA reports that members of Drishti IAS’ management informed them that the organisation had been scouting locations in Noida for quite some time and that their relocation was not an abrupt move.
Further, operating in these coaching hubs, which have proliferated in these areas, comes as a huge challenge.
“Areas like Old Rajinder Nagar and Mukherjee Nagar have become hubs for coaching centres as many UPSC aspirants reside there,” says Dr Tanu Jain, former IAS officer and founder of Tathastu ICS.
On January 16, 2024, the Central Government issued the 'Guidelines for the Regulation of Coaching Centres', which mandated that coaching centres have a minimum space of one square metre per student according to the number of students enrolled. Moreover, the Master Plan of 2021 also requires coaching centres to have proper building plans and a minimum plot of 200 square metres.
However, with coaching centres popping up in these areas, and aspirants following suit, several students enrolled in these coaching centres pointed out how crowded these areas have become, forcing students to live and study in “claustrophobic” rooms and libraries, due to a lack of space.
“Coaching institutes are forced to move out of these areas, as the lack of space and proliferation prevents them expanding their infrastructure,” says Dr Tanu Jain.
A report by Hindustan Times states that this “mushrooming” of coaching institutes, study rooms and libraries, and paying guest accommodations was a result of trying to meet the demands of aspirants, high profits and a lack of enforcement.
“Mukherjee Nagar also has a serious infrastructure problem. The buildings are extremely old and not safe for students at all. Running coaching centres in such areas is impossible,” says Ravi Kapoor
Furthermore, with old and dilapidated infrastructure, it is especially difficult to obtain safety clearances as the current regulations were released several decades after their establishment because they are not up to date with the latest requirements. As per a Times of India report, old coaching centres in Ahmedabad, Gujarat found it difficult to obtain NOCs from the fire department despite having fire safety systems, as their buildings did not possess common fire safety equipment.
In such a situation, it could be understood that shifting to newer facilities might make it easy for coaching centres to implement and follow safety requirements.
Red tape a roadblock in gaining compliance certificates
Moreover, the problem with coaching centres' lack of adherence to safety standards can be attributed to one thing — “good ol’ red tape”, as Ravi Kapoor puts it.
“In India, it is virtually impossible for anyone to do business by the book. Coaching centres that attempt to obtain the necessary clearances and NOCs from police and fire departments end up getting roadblocked by a slow, lengthy process and even bribery,” he says.
According to him, it is because of this that many coaching centres, particularly the smaller ones, don’t usually bother with compliance.
“And in the end, it is the smaller coaching centres that suffer the most when the government checks for compliance and documentation,” he adds.
He also calls it a government failure that such open flouting of compliance requirements is happening “right under its nose”.
Dr Tanu Jain also claims that it is “very difficult” for coaching centres to get safety clearance certificates as “they are not exactly educational institutions.”
Students will adjust quickly
On the question of how students would cope with the location changes, Ravi Kapoor claims that students would shift to online coaching.
“For aspirants to travel from Mukherjee Nagar to Noida, they would have to invest a bulk of their time and energy. They know better than this,” he adds.
According to him, students would find the transition to online mode not very challenging, as they are already used to studying and finding resources through the internet. “A lot of students use online classes and material provided by these coaching centres anyway,” he remarks.
However, Ravi Kapoor adds that aspirants appearing for UPSC Mains this year might find their preparation slightly disrupted due to this change, but they would be able to bounce back on track.
Further, coaching centres moving to newer locations with improved infrastructure could give students a better atmosphere to prepare, opines Dr Tanu Jain.
