‘Agency needed to regulate institutes that do admission’

Neeraj Chauhan and Fareeha Iftikhar

NEW DELHI: A central nodal agency under the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) should be created to regulate institutes and centres involved in facilitation of admissions to schools, colleges and universities, both in India and abroad, a government thinktank has recommended, adding similar bodies should also come up in states.

Such a central nodal agency will maintain a website to collect data of the agencies, institutes and coaching centres and coordinate with state nodal agencies to make sure they are following the norms while facilitating admissions by way of counselling, coaching, training etc.

The recommendations are part of ‘Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) on regulatory mechanism against malpractices in admissions in schools, colleges and universities in India and abroad’ issued recently by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD), a think -tank under the MHA.

The guidelines, reviewed by HT, stated that a monitoring committee each should be formed in states/Union territories under the state nodal agency with a designated office at district level. “This monitoring committee should have, in addition to other officers, an officer on deputation from the department of education at the Centre or state, and psychologist(s), career counsellor(s) for counselling of students and their parents,” the guidelines stated.

The committees will be able to register complaints in case of fraud, carry out inquiry, and will have a mandate to inspect these institutes on a regular basis. Defining the role of the monitoring committee, the BPRD has said: “It can register a complaint in case a fraud is detected or reported by the student or parent against any admission agency, school, university, engineering or medical college, involved in the business of facilitating admissions in educational institutes.” Keshav Agarwal, president, Educators Society — a consortium of around 300 coaching centres in Delhi — said the government had in 2013-14 planned to come up with regulations for coaching institutes. “However, the regulations did not see the light of the day so far. But we are skeptical of the recommendation of registering under the Shops and Establishment Act in case more than 100 students are enrolled. In coaching centres, 100 students do not come for classes at once, unlike schools. If they are registered under the Shops and Establishment Act, they will have to follow many norms,” he said.