Time to Regulate

As the new academic session is in offing, the annual JK Board Examinations concluding by November ending, the spotlight will again be on private coaching centres operating throughout Kashmir.

Besides local coaching centres, Valley has also witnessed a growth of national brands across the length and breadth.

Earlier the units of the top-notch coaching centres were established in Srinagar city alone but now they are expanding to districts as well.

Besides the existing institutes, the advent of new coaching centres in Kashmir has resulted in grave changes in the formal schooling of the students.

A general observation is being made that the schools have lost their relevance on account of academics and students get enrolled in these schools for personality development and exposure while the academic part is done by the private coaching centres.

As per the rough figures, J&K has around 630 private coaching centres, providing private coaching for various national level competitive exams besides the coaching for classes 9th to 12th examinations.

Besides the students who opt for private coaching for their high and higher secondary classes, more than 15000 students opt for private coaching to compete in NEET, JEE and other national level exams.

While the functioning of private coaching centres always remains debatable, but their contribution in preparing students for national level competitive exams cannot be ignored as well.

But a major concern is raised by all the stakeholders about the fees charged by these coaching institutes for different courses offered to students.

Besides, the fees charged for the class 9th to 12th coaching, each student is charged more than Rs 50000 or one lac for the three month crash course offered by different coaching centres across Kashmir.

As per the parents, the amount even goes beyond Rs one lac sometimes.

No doubt the credit is due to the coaching centres for preparing students for competitive exams but the lack of regulatory mechanism for these institutes always remains a concern.

This regulation is not confined to space, washrooms or waiting rooms, but it goes beyond it. As of now, majority of the coaching centres have the basic facilities but there seems to be no check on the fees charged from the students.

Nobody, not even the government is aware about the criteria fixed by the coaching centres for charging the fees from the students.

Amid the absence of regulatory mechanism, all these coaching charge the fee as per their sweet will.

Amid this, the stakeholders count on the competent authorities to devise a proper mechanism for charging of fees from students at these coaching centres. But, the government process never goes beyond paper work, leaving the issue undecided and unresolved.

Regulating fee structure is not to curb the space of these institutes but will bring an accountability in the system.

In the past several instructions have been issue by the Directorate of School Education Kashmir (DSEK) but there is no mention of the fee structure.

The fee regulatory mechanism is required in all these private coaching centres because it will provide a level playing field to all coaching centres to compete in the market and not resort to fleecing.

Further it will bring some ease to students from poor backgrounds to study in better coaching centres.

The regulation of fee structure in private coaching centres has gone out of sight while the same issue in private schools hits the headlines every now and then.

Amid this, the government now distances itself from the regulation saying none of the coaching centres was provided registration in Kashmir. But running away from the responsibilities was not a solution to the problem.

If the coaching centres are not registered with the education department, then it has no mandate to send list of students form Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) to the same coaching institutes for free admissions.

The school education department which has a mandate to regulate functioning of these coaching centres has kept itself confined to check the space provided to the students, in square feet, and to ensure drinking water and toilet facility are available at the institute. In this process, one of the crucial aspects, fee charged from the students, gets ignored.

While a committee has been constituted to regulate fee structure in private schools, same should apply for the private coaching centres as well.

Most of the coaching centres justify the fee structure saying that they pay GST towards the government. But still regulatory mechanism is necessary to bring accountability. Bringing coaching centres under government ambit will also provide recognition to these institutes.

Prior to the commencement of the new academic session, all the private coaching centres install their hoardings and banners inviting admissions for coaching for different competitive exams. But none of the coaching centres mentions fee charged from students for different coaching programmes and crash courses offered by the institutes.

Also, most of the coaching centres do not enroll the specially-abled students as there is no provision for such students to attend classes at majority of these institutes. This issue has remained out of focus of the government as well.

Now coming to the point, the government should shift its focus from registration to regulation of fee structure of these coaching centres which has remained unregulated over these years.

Let a proper system be put in place keeping in view the interest of the students and the parents.

No doubt the coaching institutes contribute towards the education sector but the things should run systematically for the benefit of the students and stakeholders.

It is well said that education could be a great leveller. However, for this goal to become a reality it is important that everyone gets a fair chance to study and excel without any fear of bias.

Private sector is important for the growth of the economy, but if private institutions resort to fleecing people on different pretexts, it would defeat the purpose of ensuring social equity.

The authorities must consider regulation of fee structure in private coaching centres and bring it under its regulatory umbrella so that everyone is able to progress under the principle of equity.