Panel to draft bill on regulation of coaching classes

Panel to draft bill on regulation of coaching classes
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

JUNE 28: The state government has appointed an experts' committee to draft a bill on regulating private coaching classes, Minister of State for School Education Anil Deshmukh announced today.

The committee, headed by Vijay Patil, president of the State Higher and Technical Education Board, has 15 members, including 7 education experts. The other eight members include six from the education department and one from the law and judiciary department. The committee is expected to submit its report before the next cabinet meeting, to be held in the first week of July.

To regulate coaching classes, the committee will consider registration of such classes, their fee structure, admission process, salaries being paid to their teachers and banning use of merit list holders in their advertisements, Deshmukh said.

The committee will also suggest amendments to certain provisions in existing laws which create obstacles in raiding coaching classes by education department officials. Further, it will recommend ways to prevent coaching classes from getting exemption from Income Tax under the pretext of education institutes, Deshmukh said.

The cabinet will discuss the draft bill and take a decision to introduce the legislation in the legislature as soon as possible, he said. Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has already announced a legislation to regulate coaching classes would be introduced in the monsoon session of the legislature starting July 17. ``We hope to control effectively the activities of coaching classes once the legislation is enacted,'' he said. Deshmukh appealed to teachers and professors to refrain from teaching in private classes as the proposed bill was likely to suggest stern measures against such activities.

In reply to a query, he said the government was probing the alleged nexus between coaching classes and officials of the education boards.