The recently announced guidelines by the Ministry of Education (MoE) directed that coaching centres across the country are not allowed to enroll students below 16 years of age or make misleading promises and guarantee rank or good marks. Coaching institutes in Bengaluru say that the regulation and government registration is a positive move, however not allowing coaching before the age of 16 years can affect students' foundation as schools might not give individual attention.
Experts opined that the guidelines legitimise the illegality of these institutions by providing a framework, instead, they should be banned completely. Speaking to TNIE, Educationist Niranjan Aradhya VP said that running coaching institutions goes against the idea of verified education institutions and paves the way for parallel organisations mushrooming all over the country. “The guidelines mention that coaching classes can conduct classes for 5 hours a day, which means that students will have to finish at least 7 school hours and then go for coaching. This will turn them into bookworms and guarantee no leisure activities,” he said. Further, he added that though the move is to curb suicides among students, this will aggravate the issue.
Meanwhile, coaching institutes in the city said the onus is just not on them, parents should be counselled too. Chairman of Neat Academy Vivekananda opined, “In schools, there are 50-60 students in a classroom. Not everyone can grasp what the teacher is teaching and there is no time for individual focus. If the government makes coaching illegal how will students progress, their concepts will not be clear."
Another faculty member from Prakash Academy Prashanth Kumar said parents are pressuring their children to score and accusing coaching centres of not doing a good job. “The rules state that if a student drops out of the class, they should be refunded. But in many cases, students don’t perform well and parents don’t end up paying fees for semesters at stretch. Who is accountable for that?” he questioned.
Aradhya asserted that these guidelines are 'very unfair' and 'dangerous' and tend to legalise the proprietorship of such institutions. Another expert in the field Ganesh Bhatt stated that these guidelines will further promote the integration of educational institutions with coaching classes – turning education into marketing. “Strong stipulations are needed to follow these new rules and implementation should be seen by a regulatory body or individuals will find loopholes. So many classes don’t have the basic infrastructure in place including ventilation. These should not be allowed to register,” Bhatt added, The New Indian Express reported.
