CCPA issues guidelines to ensure transparency across coaching sector

CCPA has issued guidelines for academic coaching centres, barring misleading representations about the quality or standard of their services

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), a federal regulator, has issued guidelines for academic coaching centres in the country, barring misleading representations about the quality or standard of their services.

he CCPA guidelines for commercial coaching institutes make it an offence to make any type of guaranteed claims, such as selection to “prelims” (the preliminary screening examination) or assured ranks and scores, among other rules, related to advertisements. (HT Photo)

Under the new regulations, coaching institutes cannot use photographs of top-scoring students in their advertisements without their consent, consumer affairs secretary Nidhi Khare said. Coaching institutes must also accurately represent their infrastructure, resources and facilities.

These centres must disclose whether a course was paid for by the student or sponsored. Every coaching centre will be required to partner with the National Consumer Helpline, making it easier for students to raise concerns or complaints regarding misleading advertisements and unfair trade practices.

Recently, the regulator imposed a penalty of ₹3 lakh on Sriram’s IAS, which trains aspirants for the civil services examination, for misleading and exaggerated claims in its advertisements.

Sriram’s IAS was probed for two claims. First, the institute had advertised that it had achieved “200-plus selections in UPSC Civil Service Exam 2022”. Second, its ads carried the tagline, “We are India’s No.1 Prestigious UPSC/IAS Coaching Institute”.

HT reached out to Sriram’s IAS for a comment but did not receive a response.

The CCPA guidelines for commercial coaching institutes make it an offence to make any type of guaranteed claims, such as selection to “prelims” (the preliminary screening examination) or assured ranks and scores, among other rules, related to advertisements.

Fierce competition to secure an engineering or a medical seat and exaggerated assurances of success in civil services tests often push aspirants into mental trauma and even suicide, a key reason why the government sought to tighten regulations.

Spawning coaching institutes and their operations sparked a major controversy when three students drowned after their illegal basement classroom was flooded after a cloudburst in the Capital on July 28.

Similar concerns have been raised in Kota, the centre of India’s test-prep business. Students from around the country arrive in the Rajasthan city after completing Class X and register in residential test-prep institutes. They also enrol in schools, most of which are largely for purposes of certification.Some students find the grind stressful, especially because they are away from their families. At least 17 students have died in the coaching hub this year.