*up to Rs 1 lakh fine for misleading ads
According to the new Bill-2024 approved in the recent Vidhan Sabha session, registration of private coaching institutes by the state government has become compulsory and those violating direction will have to face heavy penalties ranging up to R 1 lakh. According to a spokesperson of the state education department, the Bill has been passed to register and regulate private coaching institutes providing coaching for competitive examinations in higher studies, jobs, and professional courses such private institutes are found publishing misleading advertisements to attract students shall face a penalty of up to Rs 1 lakh. He said, after receiving assent from the Governor, the government will frame rules which would be notified for implementation of this new Act in Haryana state would be applicable after a notification for the same shortly.
As per the provisions of The Haryana Registration and Regulation of Private Coaching Institutes Bill, 2024, no private coaching institute shall publish or cause to be published any misleading advertisement or give false information related to coaching and in case of violation of the Act, the Bill mentions, a private coaching institute shall be liable for a fine of Rs 25,000 for the first violation, Rs 1 lakh for the subsequent violation and if the violation continues then the registration of the private coaching institute shall be cancelled. After the implementation of the new law, there shall be an Authority, headed by the deputy commissioner in each district across the state to register and regulate private coaching institutes to include the SP of the district concerned and education department officers. The authorities will constitute a grievance redressal cell at the district level and will inspect violation of rules or upon a complaint against such private coaching institutes. The authorities will curb malpractices of misleading advertisement and false claims including the number of students selected in particular exams by a private coaching institute, the spokesperson further said.
The Act also stated that every private coaching institute shall engage at least one full-time counsellor to address mental health and stress-related issues among students. For the registration of a new coaching centres, an application needs to be made to the district-level Authority, whereas in case of those private coaching institutes which have been established prior to the commencement of this Act shall also get themselves registered for a period of three years within a period of three months from the commencement of this Act. While applying for registration, the applicant has to provide a copy of the prospectus mentioning the curriculum or part thereof, duration of completion of the curriculum with details of all types of fees including tuition fee, fee refund, easy exit and the number of lectures, tutorial, group discussion and test schedules. The institute has to reveal the number of maximum students for each batch, academic qualifications and bio-data of the teachers and bio-data and experience of the councillor.
While talking to the media persons, Haryana Higher Education Minister Mool Chand Sharma said the state government is taking various welfare measures for the students, teachers and all other stakeholders in the field of education. The minister said that competition in education, higher education and jobs has risen manifold in the past few years as a result large number of coaching centres have been set up all over in the state as a result there was a need to bring a law for the registration and regulation of private coaching institutes in the state to safeguard the interest of the students and their guardians and also to provide better academic support to the students while preparing for different competitive examinations and admissions into specialised institutions.
