Bihar Govt must rein in tuition trade

On the one hand Right to Education Bill has been passed by the Parliament, there is no law in place to check mushrooming growth of truant coaching institutes in the country. A few days back, there has been violent protest against truant coaching institutes in Patna by the students. One student has also lost his life in the violent protest. Right to Education means the education for all. But the ground reality is that education is becoming the most thriving business. It has turned into a flourishing trade. But as there is no law to check these truant private coaching institutes, they have their way. When the students in Patna took to streets and staged violent protest against coaching institutes for their highhandedness and malpractices, Bihar Government has swung into action to enact a stringent law to regulate the their functioning . The students from different parts of the state come to the state capital to get standard coaching for different competitive examinations. The coaching institutes charge heavy amount from them but they don’t coach them properly and instead cheat them and there is is no government body to check their malfunctioning. Coaching institutes do not adhere to any standard of education and the students who have deposited heavy amount as tuition fees feel cheated. In the given circumstances, they are left to get angry and their outburst against the private coaching institutes is natural. It is because of their angry protests that the Bihar government has woken up to enact a law to become the first state government to do so. If the law is enacted for monitoring the tuition trade, Bihar will be the first to rein in mushrooming growth of truant coaching institutes. It is Bihar government's most significan move as the issue relates to education. Private coaching institutes must be regulated to protect the interest and future of the student community. It is good that after parleys with the representatives of the students and owners of coaching institutes, the government has decided to monitor the tuition trade through legislation.The proposed legislation would provide for registration of all such institutes and strict monitoring of quality of education, fee structure and strength of the students.Bihar will be the first state in India to have such a stringent law to regulate the functioning of the coaching institutes.It is because of this what Bihar does today country follows it tomorrow.Students allege that most of the coaching institutes have been opened only to fleece money and they are little concerned for the completition syllabus. There is also no uniformity in fee structure of coaching institutes. They charge heavy fee in the name of imparting quality education. But in the end, students find that they have been completely cheated. The coaching institutes have also no provision for teaching poor students free and give concession to meritorius ones. Their main aim is to fleece the money. These institutes must be regulated and Bihar government swiftly move to rein in tuition trade.