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Private coaching centres flourish in Pune sans regulations
The recent incident of students of Sankalp Sainik Academy in Nigdi, drowning at Devgad beach has raised safety concerns for students enrolled in these institutes
Over the years, Pune has had a notable increase in the number of private coaching centres and academies. Currently, there are over 5,000 such institutes in the city with more than 2.50 lakh students enrolled every academic year. However, concerns have been raised over the lack of a proper mechanism to register and regulate them.
The recent incident of students of Sankalp Sainik Academy in Nigdi, drowning at Devgad beach has raised safety concerns for students enrolled in these institutes.
As per the officials Maharashtra has around 1.50 lakh to 2 lakh private coaching centres and academies. Pune city which is considered the Oxford of the East has 5,100 private coaching institutes and academies with 2.50 lakh students getting enrolled every academic year. The number excludes the private tuition classes taken at home.
Given the lack of regulations during such unfortunate incidents, families have no specific authority or department to approach for the complaint.
Earlier, on February 1, 2016, around 14 students of Abeda Inamdar College, Pune had drowned at Murud Janjira beach during a college picnic.
Following this in 2018 the state education department issued mandatory guidelines for schools and junior colleges to organise tours.
Now representatives of private coaching institutes and academies demand the government should register such institutes and come up with operating guidelines for them.
Durgesh Mangeshkar, a key member of Professional Teacher Association, Maharashtra, said, that people running such institutes are paying taxes but they are not yet regulated or registered by the government.
“If the government comes up with some guidelines for such institutes it will be better for the students and even the institutes,” he said.
Mangeshkar said, several schools and colleges are conducting study tours and visits successfully as they are regulated and follow the guidelines issued by the government for them.
“There are several safety precautions that have to be followed to prevent such incidents by the institutes during the field visits and study tours. All safety precautions should be followed by the institutes and no tours should be organised without permission and undertaking from the students and parents,” he said.
A senior officer from the higher education department requesting anonymity, said, “If the institute comes under the higher education department we look into it. If the institute is affiliated to some university the respective university regulates them and takes action.”
Pradeep Jambhale Patil, additional commissioner of Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, said, that as a local body regulates the Right to Education Act (RTE) and other rules the private coaching classes and academies are not registered with us.
“We learnt about the unfortunate incident but no action has been taken against them due to lack of regulations. However, the issue is under discussion to see what can be done to prevent such incidents,” he said.
Following the Murud Janjira tragedy the higher education department had issued mandatory guidelines in October 2018 stating the tour has to be conducted only to develop the intellect or overall personality of the students.
The rules for study tours and visits mention having mandatory paperwork and the college or school must apply for permission from the municipal corporation, zilla parishad or deputy director of education.
The required documents are a recommendation letter, undertaking by the principal on ₹100 stamp paper, list of students, school management committee’s permission letter, details about the place of visit, details of the transport bus along with RTO passing certificate, details about insurance of the students, consent letter from the students and their parents, schedule of the tour and time, first-aid kit and its details, blood group details of all students, health certificate of the students.
