The Rajasthan government will soon introduce a bill in the state assembly to regulate private educational institutions from schools to universities with an aim to reduce stress on students, especially those studying in private coaching institutes or taking offline tutorials, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
The proposed draft bill, ‘The Rajasthan Private Educational Regulatory Authority Bill-2022’, seen by HT, prohibits private institutes from glorifying success of toppers in any examination, prescribes an aptitude test for admission in private coaching institutes and makes registration of all coaching institutes, even if they are running only online classes, mandatory with the government.
“To regulate private education providers, the bill proposes to set up a regulatory authority which will prescribe standards for education in private institutes, regulate fee structure and will also impose penalties for failure to comply with orders of the authority,” said a senior Rajasthan government official, not willing to be named. The bill is likely to be introduced in the winter session of state assembly.
Some other state governments such as Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka have regulators for private education providers. The central government has higher education regulators such as University Grants Commission (UGC) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
The draft bill talks about holding aptitude test and regular sessions with psychologists to counter stress. On Monday, three young students in Kota town died by suicide and police investigation has found that “mental stress” because of coaching institutes was the primary reason behind the incidents.
“To address serious issue of high levels of stress among students, the authority will make comprehensive provisions for alleviating stress level of students. It will mandate compulsory aptitude tests for students prior to their joining. The findings of such tests shall then be shared with their parents so as to apprise them about the aptitude of their ward and hold regular sessions with psychologists for parents and students as well,” the draft law says.
The private coaching institutes should have a career counselling cell, which will inform students about various prospective areas which can be pursued by them in future to help them overcome any mental block regarding their future, the draft of the bill says. The bill drafted by a five-member committee of academicians, sociologists and psychologists provides for compulsory counselling sessions for the students to de-stress them and prevent cases of suicide; and installation of a 24×7 helpline for students and parents.
To curb the practice of high fee by coaching institutes, the bill says the authority will develop a framework to regulate fees and will make it mandatory for the coaching/tuition centres to publicly display details of their fee structure to avoid any fraudulent practices. “The authority will take steps to rein in the malpractices of bogus advertising, false claims (number of students selected in a particular exam, name of faculty and others) of coaching centres,” the draft says.
The bill also talks about easy exit policy with provision of reimbursement of the complete fees and suggests imposition of penalty on coaching institutes including cancellation of registration of the institute in case of failure to refund the fees and maintaining transparency in its functioning. The bill makes auditing of accounts mandatory. In case of violations, the bill provides for penalty between ₹one crore to ₹five crore after giving hearing to the education provider.
Before the bill is tabled, the Rajasthan government has issued guidelines for the coaching centres to prevent mental stress to students. The guidelines seek the coaching institutes to provide psychological services to students for combating stress and study pressure; safety and security of students; facilities to strengthen their mental health; orientation programme for students and parents; cyber café; career counselling; easy exit policy and fee refund; and complaint portal etc.
HT called and texted some coaching institutes for their comments but none responded.
Commenting on the bill, Jaipur based sociologist Rajiv Gupta said such a law is the need of the hour, especially looking at the cut-throat competition not just in Rajasthan but in every state. “At present, the coaching institutes treat students as customers and teachers as service providers. Not much attention is given to individual needs of students and all focus on just studying leading to mental stress. Many students in Kota don’t have emotional interaction with other students or even parents, leading stress and depressions that can lead to developing suicidal tendencies,” he said.
Gupta said the authority should work closely with academicians and psychologists and should not turn into another bureaucratic body harassing coaching institutes. “The aim should be to provide relief and guidance to students,” he said.
