‘State has no control on tuition shops’

Indian Express: Vadodara: Tuesday, November 20, 2012.

The state education department has no control over or authority to oversee the functioning of private coaching and tuition classes in the state, an RTI query filed by city-based activist Rohit Prajapati has revealed.

Addressing a press conference, Prajapati claimed the department has no information on the act under which private coaching and tuition classes in Gujarat are registered, their names and guidelines regarding students and other related details.

The RTI activist said there were no laws to regulate the functioning of such institutes. “So, they are charging hefty fees and looting parents,” he said.

Through a resolution in 2002, the state government had barred teaching and non-teaching staff of schools receiving government aid from giving paid or free private tuitions.

There are thousands of private coaching and tuition institutes in the state offering tuition from pre-primary level to post-graduation. While a majority of them are run as private “business” firms, which pay professional and service taxes, a few are registered under The Companies Act 1956.