No student below 16, rank guarantee, performance-based batches: Norms for coaching centres

NEW DELHI: No enrolment of students under 16 years, no misleading promises, graduated tutors, CCTV camera installation, weekly offs, festive holidays, and co-curricular activities are some of the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Education for coaching centres. The states and union territories will be in charge of regulating the coaching centres.

The education ministry’s ‘Guidelines for regulation of coaching centre’ have been framed in response to the complaints regarding the increasing number of unregulated coaching centres which charge large sum of money, put stress on students resulting in student suicides, have poor facilities which lead to fire and other accidents, and indulge in other malpractices. Last year, several engineering and medical aspirants died by suicide in Kota coaching institutes taking the number of deaths to 26 till November.

The guidelines include minimum standard requirements for registration of coaching centres, documents for registration, fees, infrastructure, curriculum, and talk about code of conduct, student counselling, penalties, among others.

Coaching Classes: Age limit

As per the MoE guidelines, a person can run coaching classes only after getting the centre registered and the registration will have to be renewed as and when required.

As part of the conditions of registration, students below 16 years of age cannot be enrolled while tutors should have completed graduation and should not have a criminal record.

The coaching centres should not make misleading promises or guarantee good rank or marks to parents and students to enrol them in the coaching center. No coaching centre shall “publish or cause to be published or take part in the publication of any misleading advertisement relating to any claim, directly or indirectly, of quality of coaching or the facilities offered therein or the result procured by such coaching center or the student who attended such class,” the guidelines stated.

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The coaching centres will also need to have a website. “coaching center shall have a website with updated details of the qualification of tutors, courses/curriculum, duration of completion, hostel facilities (if any), and 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.,” the MoE guidelines said.

New Guidelines for Coaching Centres: Fee, infrastructure

Asking to charge a ‘fair and reasonable’ fee from students, the higher education department said that fee receipts should be available. The coaching centres have been asked to issue a prospectus including details on courses, curriculum, duration, number of classes, lectures, tutorials, hostel facilities (if any), fee, exit policy, and fee refund and distribute them among the students.

On fee refund, MoE's guidelines direct: “ If the student has paid for the course in full and is leaving the course in the middle of the prescribed period, student will be refunded from out of the fees deposited earlier for the remaining period, on pro-rata basis within 10 days. If the student is staying in the hostel of the coaching center, then the hostel fees and mess fee etc. will also be refunded.” The guidelines directed the coaching centres not to increase the fee during the course duration.

The new coaching centre guidelines on infrastructure suggest a minimum of one square meter area for each student allocated during a class or batch in the centres. The centres should not be registered if they don’t have minimum space required per student and counselling system for students. They will be required to obtain a building safety certificate. They must have a first aid kit as well as medical facilties. “List of referral services like hospitals, doctors for emergency services, police helpline details, fire service helpline, women helpline etc. shall be displayed and the students shall be informed about them,” MoE added.

Fully electrified and properly-ventilated coaching centres having enough lighting are required. There should be drinking water and toilet facilities for students and CCTV cameras should be installed at the centres. A complaint box for students and a grievance redressal committee are the other infrastructural requirements.

New Coaching Centre Guidelines: Classes, counselling

The guidelines on classes include weekly offs for both students and teachers, no coaching classes during school hours, additional support, no exam after weekly off, leave on festivals, classes not more than five hours, no early morning or late evening classes, and co-curricular activities.

Explaining the difference between preparation for school exams and competitive exams, informing about career options besides engineering and medical, conducting mock test to assess student’s capability and suggest accordingly are some of the things coaching centres need to do. They are also directed not to make the results of assessments public.

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Stressing on the mental health of students, the guidelines talked in detail about the counselling system which includes organising workshops, appointed psychologists, group-based activities, and more. Further, the education department asked coaching centres not to discriminate against students based on their race, caste, etc. and not to divide batches on the basis of academic performance.

In case of violation of the guidelines, the coaching centres will have to pay Rs 25,000 for the first time and Rs 1 lakh for the second offense. Their registration may also get cancelled.