When will private coaching centres be regulated?

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The mushrooming of private coaching and counseling centres in Guwahati and other urban areas across the State has already proved to be a nuisance. The absence of any regulatory mechanism in the State Education department reeks of consequences that may even be more serious than the recent JEE (Main) exam scam.

Unlike Assam, neighbouring State Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra etc., have Acts to regulate the private coaching and counseling centres.

The laxity on this front is beyond measure. Such coaching and counseling centres run a roaring business just with registration from the GMC (Guwahati Municipal Corporation) in Guwahati and respeThe mushrooming of private coaching and counseling centres in Guwahati and other urban areas across the State has already proved to be a nuisance. The absence of any regulatory mechanism in the State Education department reeks of consequences that may even be more serious than the recent JEE (Main) exam scam.tive civic bodies in the other urban areas in the State. Without any records of such centres with it, the State Education department allowing them to continue this thriving business always runs a risk that may prove fatal. According to a source in the GMC, Guwahati alone has 112 such coaching and counseling centres, and the registrations of many of them have expired.

Most of such centres lack adequate teaching infrastructure. There are even one-room coaching centres that hardly have the required infrastructure. But they charge fees at their own whims and fancies. They woo parents of students with tall promises that are hardly kept.

This practice has come to such a pass that some of the coaching centres have 'shady deals' with a few higher secondary schools to allow the former's students to take the higher secondary examinations without having to attend any class. The modus operandi they follow is that they admit their wards in such coaching centres directly, instead of higher secondary schools or colleges that have HS courses, for JEE, NEET and other examinations. In such deals, these centres provide coaching to the students and make them appear in the HS exams (both XI and XII) through the HS Schools with whom they have understandings. If required, such students may attend a few classes in separate sittings, not with the regular students.

But then, what makes some parents opt for such a venture that runs a high risk? This is because, some of the parents go all out for admission of their wards in MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) and B. Tech courses. Since the number of seats for such courses is very limited and the competition is tough, a section of parents dares to take the make-or-break stance for the future of their wards. Such parents even forget that they put at risk the life of their wards who may even feel depressed.

It is high time that the government brought all such coaching and counseling centres under a regulatory mechanism before the menace gets out of control.

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