Coaching classes may come under scanner

A government-appointed panel has recommended setting up of a regulatory body for coaching institutes to ensure that they are well equipped, maintain healthy and best practices, as well as charge regulated fees.

The report, submitted to the HRD Ministry, noted that while the coaching business is a “very lucrative industry” with an annual turnover of Rs 24,000 crore, there are concerns that needs to be addressed.

“It would be helpful if there is a regulatory body for coaching institutions. An All India Council for Coaching for Entrance examinations (AICCEE) may be established with the demand that coaching institutes are well equipped and maintain healthy and best practices as well as charge regulated fees,” the panel recommended.

The committee, headed by IIT Roorkee director Ashok Mishra, noted that the coaching institutes seemed to be “filling a void” in the absence of good teaching in schools.

“It is not always mindless profit, indeed at least some of the coaching institutions offer scholarships for bright students who cannot afford them. Still there are three objections,” it added.

Describing the first objection to the unregulated functioning of the coaching institutes as “philosophical, yet important”, the committee noted that the purpose of education was “refinement of the mind”, not passing an entrance examination.

The second concerns the fact that ‘all work and no play’ makes a plus 12 grade student a dull individual with less involvement in activities other than studies.

“The third is that students are forced to waste a lot time commuting in order to avail the benefit of good coaching,” it added.

The committee suggested that the first two concerns may well be addressed by providing “excellent facilities” to school teachers, including “paying them well.

Besides, the HRD Ministry must also take steps to improve the school education to the extent where need for coaching “becomes redundant.”

“The dependence on and the perceived need for coaching can be reduced only over a period of time. However, we must work towards it,” it added.

The committee, which comprised directors of various IITs as members among others, was constituted by the IIT council to suggest how a single entrance test could be conducted for admissions to centrally-funded technical institutes.