Closer eye on tuition classes, says Maha education min

Maharashtra govt announces it will tweak the existing laws to regulate private coaching classes

The state government has announced that it will tweak existing laws to regulate the private coaching classes and also frame code of conduct for them. It has also announced to set up a committee to decide on the steps to be taken for the safety of the students and curbing malpractices by the classes.

School education minister Vinod Tawde, while clarifying that there was no legal provision to take any action against the private classes, said on Friday that the government was considering amendment in the laws to have powers to regulate them. “There is no law to monitor the private coaching classes resulting in malpractices and harassment of students. We do not even have powers to take action against the exorbitant fees charged by them,” he said.

The issue of the sexual assault on students in some city schools, harassment and harsher punishments in coaching classes was raised, though calling attention, by the MLAs citing four cases in the city in recent past. BJP’s Amit Satam questioned the government on the stripping of two boys at a Malad coaching class, Congress’ Amit Deshmukh pointed at the exorbitant fees charged by them.

Ashish Shelar(BJP), while pointing at the cases of the sexual assault on the girl students, asked the government about the policy of the installation of the CCTV cameras in the schools. Tawde said, “As per the directions of the Bombay High Court, the installation of the cameras has already started in many cases. We have made it compulsory and the schools have been asked to complete the installation on war footing. Besides it, we are also pressing for the steps to be launched by the schools for gender sensitisation in schools with the help of Parent Teachers Associations. ”