Coaching culture: Strict regulation key to efficacy of laws
These money-minting arrangements have largely reduced schooling at the secondary level to a formality while making coaching the focal point of a student’s education
India’s ever-growing coaching industry, valued at over Rs 60,000 crore, has come under intense scrutiny after this year’s NEET paper leak, which exposed the rot plaguing the entire examination system and triggered the Jantar Mantar protests. Maharashtra has invited feedback on a draft law aimed at regulating private coaching and tuition centres, while Haryana is framing rules to provide a structured regulatory framework for the registration and functioning of such institutes. Assam has come up with the Private Coaching Institutes (Control and Student Mental Health Protection) Rules, which lay stress on counselling and suicide prevention measures. It was in January 2024 that the Ministry of Education released guidelines for the regulation of coaching centres in accordance with the National Education Policy (NEP-2020). However, teaching shops and dummy schools continue to thrive. These money-minting arrangements have largely reduced schooling at the secondary level to a formality while making coaching the focal point of a student’s education.
