Haryana government mulls law to regulate private coaching institutes

NEW DELHI: The Haryana government is set to enact a law to regulate the functioning of private coaching institutes, addressing issues like misleading advertisements and rising stress among students. The state government had put a draft of the Haryana Coaching Institutes (Control and Regulation) Bill, 2024 in the public domain last month, seeking feedback from stakeholders and the public in this regard.

The Bill is likely to be tabled in the upcoming budget session starting from February 20, sources said. The Bill provides for the control and regulation of private coaching institutes, registering and regulating them and monitoring the cost of the study material and other charges levied by the coaching institutes.

It also provides for taking care of the interests of students and their guardians, reducing stress among the students enrolled in coaching institutes and better academic support in preparation for various competitive examinations, the draft of Bill read. According to the draft of the Bill, every coaching institute will have to be registered with the district authority to be set up under the chairmanship of the deputy commissioner.

In order to check exorbitant fees, coaching institutes will have to come out with a prospectus, mentioning about curriculum, number of lectures, tutorials, group discussions etc and fee, as per the draft Bill. The teaching shall be performed by non-government teachers or retired teachers having at least graduation qualification, along with bio-data of teachers, their academic qualification and experience shall be mentioned.

The district authority will take steps to rein in malpractices of bogus advertising and false claims (number of students selected in a particular exam, name of faculty and others) of coaching centres, said the draft Bill. The district authority also seeks to address the issue of high levels of stress among students and their parents.

To achieve this, the authority shall make comprehensive provisions as prescribed in the rules for reducing the stress level of students, said the draft Bill. There is also a provision for setting up grievance cells at the district and block levels for effective resolution of grievances of students and parents.

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The district authority may inspect suo motu or upon any complaint, any records of a coaching institute. The person in-charge or an owner of the institute shall produce before the authority such records may be required by a competent officer during the inspection.

The district authority shall have the powers of civil courts under the Civil Procedure Code, 1908. If a coaching institute violates any provisions of the law, it will have to pay a fine of Rs 25,000 for the first offence. "In case of proof of allegations against coaching institutes even after the second offence, the registration shall be cancelled by district authority after show-cause notice and giving sufficient opportunity of hearing," said the draft Bill.

The aggrieved institutes, students or parents can file an appeal with the appellate authority which will be chaired by the director, higher education department. No coaching class shall publish or cause to be published or take part in the publication of any misleading advertisements relating to such class, it read.

The pre-established coaching institutes shall have to be registered within three months from the enactment of this Act. No coaching institute including residential and online coaching or tuition centres shall be established or run without obtaining valid registration, said the draft Bill.