Even as the Maharashtra government has tried to project that its draft Private Coaching Regulation Act, 2018 will keep the business on a tight leash, class owners have said the proposed legislation will likely be an eyewash in the absence of clearly defined rules.
For instance, the draft says that that coaching institutes cannot run on the same premise as the school and college and that they must 'shift' to another address in three months. "This condition is ambiguous as it nowhere asks such classes to 'shut' but only asks to shift which they can do even in an adjacent building thus defeating its purpose," said Ladika Ruke, joint secretary of the Maharashtra Class Owners Association.
With the academic year already started, Ruke said, there is no clarity about the date of implementation once the bill is cleared by the Assembly.
Former MCOA president Narendra Bambwani, who had moved the Bombay High Court in 2016, said that the government is trying to give a free hand to integrated classes. "Despite its promise of shutting down integrated coaching classes from this year, there is no action against any of the coaching institutes or the colleges that house such classes."
Under integrated coaching, colleges tie up with private coaching centres so that students don't have to bother attending lectures.
Calling the proposed law toothless, Bambwani said it would not address any of the problem areas as it is meant for "big coaching classes who can pay money and get away with anything.
In July 2017, state education minister Vinod Tawde had said that the government would ban all integrated classes from 2018 and would set up biometric attendance in colleges to ensure that students do not bunk college and attend coaching.
Despite the promise, Bambwani said, there seems to be no ground work. "The government has not sent any notices to existing classes and the biometric system is also far from being implemented."
