NEW DELHI: Coaching centres can be made to pay up to Rs 1 lakh or have their registration cancelled for charging exorbitant fees that causes undue stress, leading to student suicides, or for other malpractices.
New guidelines issued by the education ministry bar centres from hiring any tutor who has been convicted of any offence involving moral turpitude.Also, each branch of a coaching institute will now be treated as a separate entity.
An institute will not be registered unless it has a counselling system as per the requirement of these guidelines. “Information about the names of psychologists, counsellors and the time they render services may be given to all students and parents. Trained counsellors could be appointed,” the guidelines said.
The rules come on the back of a rising number of suicides by students, and question marks raised over the methodology of teaching in the coaching centres.
“The guidelines are to be implemented by the states/ UTs as education till Class 12 level is in their jurisdiction. Even otherwise it is not legal to enrol junior students for coaching when they should be attending schools. As mentioned in the guidelines, enrolment age cap is a prerequisite for (existing) registration and those in violation of these rules would be denied the same,” said a senior ministry official.
“No coaching centre shall engage tutors having qualifications less than graduation. The institutes cannot enrol students below 16 years of age or only after secondary school examination,” the guidelines said. They also barred centres from making claims on the result procured by them or by students who attended classes there.
The ministry said the “coaching centres shall have a website with updated details of the qualification of tutors, courses/curriculum, duration of completion, hostel facilities, and the fees being charged”.
According to the guidelines, the tuition fees for different courses and curricula being charged should be fair and “if any student has paid for the course in full and is leaving the course in the middle of the prescribed period, he /she will be refunded from out of the fees deposited earlier for the remaining period on a pro rata basis within 10 days”.
The Centre has written to the states/ UTs that the number of unregulated coaching centres continues to grow in the country due to absence of any laid down policy or regulation.
The regulations define “coaching” as tuition, instructions or guidance in any branch of learning imparted to more than 50 students but does not include counselling, sports, dance, theatre and other creative activities and “…established or administered by any person to provide coaching for any study programme or competitive examinations or academic support to students at school, college, and university level”.
New guidelines issued by the education ministry bar centres from hiring any tutor who has been convicted of any offence involving moral turpitude.Also, each branch of a coaching institute will now be treated as a separate entity.
An institute will not be registered unless it has a counselling system as per the requirement of these guidelines. “Information about the names of psychologists, counsellors and the time they render services may be given to all students and parents. Trained counsellors could be appointed,” the guidelines said.
The rules come on the back of a rising number of suicides by students, and question marks raised over the methodology of teaching in the coaching centres.
“The guidelines are to be implemented by the states/ UTs as education till Class 12 level is in their jurisdiction. Even otherwise it is not legal to enrol junior students for coaching when they should be attending schools. As mentioned in the guidelines, enrolment age cap is a prerequisite for (existing) registration and those in violation of these rules would be denied the same,” said a senior ministry official.
“No coaching centre shall engage tutors having qualifications less than graduation. The institutes cannot enrol students below 16 years of age or only after secondary school examination,” the guidelines said. They also barred centres from making claims on the result procured by them or by students who attended classes there.
The ministry said the “coaching centres shall have a website with updated details of the qualification of tutors, courses/curriculum, duration of completion, hostel facilities, and the fees being charged”.
According to the guidelines, the tuition fees for different courses and curricula being charged should be fair and “if any student has paid for the course in full and is leaving the course in the middle of the prescribed period, he /she will be refunded from out of the fees deposited earlier for the remaining period on a pro rata basis within 10 days”.
The Centre has written to the states/ UTs that the number of unregulated coaching centres continues to grow in the country due to absence of any laid down policy or regulation.
The regulations define “coaching” as tuition, instructions or guidance in any branch of learning imparted to more than 50 students but does not include counselling, sports, dance, theatre and other creative activities and “…established or administered by any person to provide coaching for any study programme or competitive examinations or academic support to students at school, college, and university level”.