After Rajasthan, Assam Cabinet approves bill to regulate coaching centres

NEW DELHI: In a major decision, the Assam Cabinet has approved the enactment of the “Assam Coaching Institutes (Control & Regulations) Act 2025” to protect and safeguard the rights of students enrolled in coaching centres. With the new law, the state government aims to regulate mushrooming of private coaching institutes.

After Rajasthan, Assam is the second state to bring such a bill on the table. The Rajasthan cabinet recently gave nod to the “Rajasthan Coaching Centers (Control and Regulation) Bill-2025” for student welfare.

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma took the decision amongst other key initiatives including fair conduct of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) exam and amending MBBS, BDS admission rules to revocate quota for Char areas from the 2025-26 session.

The states have introduced the bills on the basis of the coaching guidelines issued by the Centre. In November last year, the Union government released new guidelines prohibiting coaching centres to make false claims such as 100 percent selection.

Even former Delhi cabinet minister Atishi announced that the government will bring a law to regulate coaching institutes, last year, after the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) coaching centre deaths. However, with the new government in place, there is yet to be an update on the move.

Coaching centre guidelines

Haryana too, passed a bill to regulate private coaching institutions in the state so as to safeguard the interests of students and their guardians. Under the “Haryana Registration and Regulation of Private Coaching Institutes Bill, 2024”, a private coaching institute violating the rules "shall be liable for each such violation with a fine of Rs 25,000 for the first violation and Rs 1 lakh for the subsequent violation. And in case the violation still continues then the registration of private coaching institute shall be cancelled".

The education ministry framed the ‘Guidelines for regulation of coaching centre’ in January last year which ordered coaching centres not to enrol students under 16 years of age, make misleading promises, and asked them to install CCTV cameras, provide weekly offs, and conduct co-curricular activities.