Higher Education Department explores ways to reduce student dependence on coaching institutes

The Department of Higher Education has chaired an online meeting of a committee formed to address issues relating to coaching and explore ways to reduce students’ dependence on it.

The nine-member committee was already constituted in June to address growing concerns regarding students’ reliance on coaching centres.

The meeting was chaired by Dr Vineet Joshi, Secretary, Department of Higher Education, and attended by senior officials from the states and Union Territories, along with representatives from the Education Ministry.

According to a social media post by the Education Ministry on X, discussions at the meeting focused on the registration and regulation of private coaching centres.

The committee, headed by Joshi, includes representatives from the CBSE, IIT-Madras, IIT-Kanpur, NIT-Trichy, NCERT, and principals from Kendriya Vidyalaya, Navodaya Vidyalaya and a private school, as well as the Joint Secretary of the Department of Higher Education.

The meeting was attended by the Chairman CBSE, officials from the Departments of Higher Education and School Education & Literacy, representatives from NCERT, faculty members of IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur, NIT Trichy, and Principals from Kendriya Vidyalaya, Navodaya Vidyalaya, and private schools.

Important issues discussed included establishment of student protection norms, creation of grievance redressal mechanisms for students and parents, formation of district-level monitoring committees, and development of a policy framework to address students’ mental health and wellbeing.

States and UTs were requested to make registration of private coaching centres mandatory, implement student protection and grievance redressal systems, set up district-level monitoring committees, and encourage participation in the National Task Force (NTF) Mental Health Portal survey.

Findings from the Centre’s Comprehensive Modular Survey (CMS) on education found nearly one-third of school students take private coaching. The trend is more common in urban areas, where 44.6 per cent of higher secondary students reported receiving coaching during the year, compared to 33.1 per cent in rural areas. On the whole, 37 per cent of students in classes 11 and 12 took private coaching.