New Guidelines For Coaching Centres: Age Limit | Ministry of Education

Some of the criteria that the Ministry of Education has given for coaching centers include not enrolling kids under the age of 16, making false claims, having graduated tutors, installing CCTV cameras, offering weekly off, celebrating holidays, and offering extracurricular activities. The regulation of the coaching centers will fall under the purview of the states and union territories.

As per the recently released guidelines by the Ministry of Education, coaching centers are prohibited from enrolling students who are less than 16 years old, making false claims, and promising a certain rank or high grades.

The purpose of the regulations governing coaching institutes is to manage the uncontrolled expansion of private coaching centers while also addressing the need for a legal framework.

It follows concerns the government received concerning an increase in student suicides, fire events, a lack of facilities for coaching incidents, and instructional strategies they were using.

No coaching center is allowed to hire tutors with less education than a bachelor’s degree. Parents who enroll their children in the coaching centers cannot be promised a certain grade or position by the organizations.

Students younger than 16 are not permitted to enroll in the institutes. Only after secondary school exams should students be enrolled, according to the requirements.

“The coaching institutes cannot 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 centre or the student who attended such class,” it stated.

The coaching centers are not allowed to employ tutors or anyone convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude. If an institute doesn’t have a counseling system in place that complies with these criteria, it won’t be allowed to register.

“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,” the rules read.

As per the latest recommendations, coaching centers are required to take measures for the emotional well-being of students and conduct lessons without putting undue pressure on them, given the intense competitiveness and academic pressure placed on them.

“In order to offer focused and ongoing support to students experiencing anxiety or difficult circumstances, they ought to set up a system for prompt intervention. The responsible authority may take action to guarantee that the coaching center develops and makes a counseling system easily accessible to parents and students.

All parents and students may receive information about the identities of psychologists and counselors as well as the hours during which they provide their services. According to the standards, qualified counselors could be assigned to the coaching center to provide parents and pupils with efficient guidance and counseling.

It further stated that teachers “may undergo training in mental health issues to convey information effectively and sensitively to students about their areas of improvement” .

The framework for mental wellbeing is outlined in guidelines, which are set against the background of student suicides in Kota, the coaching hub, in 2023. The swift rise in student suicides brought to light a number of problems besetting the coaching profession.

The standards state that tuition costs for various courses and curricula must be fair and reasonable, and that receipts for the amounts paid must be made available.

“Students who have paid in full for the course and withdraw in the midst of the allotted time will get a pro-rata refund within 10 days of their earlier fee deposits for the remaining time.

“Hostel expenses, mess fees, etc., will also be reimbursed if the student resided in the coaching center’s hostel. It stated, “Under no circumstances may the fee upon which enrolment has been made for a specific course and duration be increased during the course’s currency.”

In order to give the policy some teeth, the Center has proposed that coaching centers who charge outrageous prices that result in excessive stress and student suicide, or that engage in other malpractices, be fined up to ₹1 lakh or have their registration revoked.

The government has suggested that both new and current centers register within three months of the guidelines going into effect in order to provide adequate oversight of the coaching establishments.

The state government will be in charge of keeping an eye on the coaching center’s operations and making inquiries about any coaching center regarding the fulfillment of registration requirements and the center’s satisfactory activities.

The document said, “Since State/Union Territory Governments are responsible for regulating +2 level education, it is best for them to regulate these institutions.”