Regulate pvt tuition centres: KCPCR to education department

The Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KCPCR) has asked the Department of Public Instruction to regulate private tuition centres that are functioning in the state.

The move comes in the wake of a recent incident in Mandya district, where a 10-year-old girl was raped and murdered by her tuition teacher. The commission has directed the department to frame regulatory norms for private tuition/coaching centres.

Currently, there is no data about the number of tuition centres within the department. According to sources, a majority of them are functioning illegally, without getting registered. Many tuition centres are functioning from rented residential rooms.

“Even the one who committed the crime in Malavalli of Mandya district was running a tuition centre from a tiny room. There should be some norms to set up the tuition centres and we have asked the Department of Public Instruction to come up with specific norms to regulate them,” said N Naganna Gowda, chairperson of the commission.

The commission even recommended issuing a circular on mandatory registration of the tuition centres with the department.

“As these tuition centres deal with kids and the department has to make it a rule to register under Karnataka Education Act 1983,” Gowda said.

The commission even recommended compulsory installation of CCTV cameras at the tuition centres, mandatory police verification of the centre’s teachers/owners etc.

Meanwhile, the department of Public Instructions has also ordered a survey of tuition centres at the local level and to submit a report. Some of the Block Education Officers who have visited the tuition centres shared with DH that some such centres lack basic infrastructure. “We have issued notices to at least 17 such centres for closure in Bengaluru South,” said an official from the department.

The private schools’ association said that private tuition was a mafia which was mushrooming.

D Shashi Kumar, general secretary of Associated Management of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka, said, “The parents should be cautious and aware before sending their wards to private tuitions. There are some parents who rely on tuition even for a 6-year-old child which is not necessary.”

Kumar even questioned the negligence of the government towards these centres. “Why doesn’t the safety and security norms that apply to schools applicable for tuition centres?” he asked.

He also stressed compulsory registration of the tuition centres and urged the department of public instruction to take the initiative, considering the safety of students, under the Karnataka Education Act.