Control encroaching coaching centres

In most Indian homes, post-school hours no longer belong to youngsters. Recreation gives way to coaching centres. For many, this cycle begins in middle school, intensifies through senior school, and extends into the race for competitive recruitment exams. Coaching has evolved from a supplementary aid into a vast parallel education system. Against this backdrop, a draft report by a Union education ministry committee proposes a national law to regulate coaching centres while making tests like JEE, NEET and CUET less 'coachable'. Crucially, it recognises that the industry's explosive growth reflects deeper distortions in our education and admissions system.

The national 2024 model guidelines proposed mandatory registration, infrastructure and safety norms, transparent fee policies, counselling services, and age restrictions. Central Consumer Protection Authority has cracked down on misleading ads, while several states have enacted laws to regulate coaching institutes. Authorities have also acted against dummy schools that allow students to bypass regular schooling altogether. But the industry keeps expanding because regulation has focused on coaching centres, rather than incentives driving students towards them. The next phase of reform must address those structural incentives.

Making entrance tests more conceptual and less amenable to pattern-based preparation is an important start. Equally critical is strengthening school education so that classrooms, not coaching institutes, become primary sites of learning. Eliminating the dummy-school ecosystem is a must. Without addressing these systemic issues, a regulatory framework risks becoming yet another well-intentioned intervention that leaves coaching culture pretty much unchanged.