The Ministry of Education announced the guidelines for the operation of training centers. According to the guidelines, training institutes must be registered, cannot enroll students under the age of 16 or charge high fees, and must provide psychological and mental health support to students, as well as comply with fire and building safety standards.
Training Institute Guidelines 2024 were prepared on January 15 and sent to the chief secretaries of all states and union territories for appropriate action. While some states have laws regulating coaching institutes nationwide, the proliferation of unregulated private coaching centers has raised concerns that they are extorting students through fees, a cost overrun that will lead to suicide.
Last year, In November, the issue went to the Supreme Court when a distressed parent, Aniruddha Narayan Malpani, approached the top court seeking guidelines or any kind of regulation to prevent the loss of precious young lives at Kota, Rajasthan, which recorded 26 suicide deaths in 2023, the highest since 2015.
The official notice reads, "Due to high competition and academic pressure on students, coaching centres should take steps for students' mental well-being of the students and may conduct classes without putting undue pressure on them. Also, they should establish the mechanism for immediate intervention to provide targeted and sustained assistance to students in distress and stressful situations".
