A rather strong nexus between coaching centres and junior colleges in Nagpur is not just putting the careers of a score students at stake but also causing a grave loss to the State exchequer. Unfortunately, neither the cash-strapped civic body nor the government seems to be taking any serious notice of it.
Many junior colleges who have entered into an unofficial agreement with the coaching centres receive grant from the State government. This grant is used to give salaries to the teaching staff. However, it has been observed that in most junior colleges, classrooms are found to be empty.
This happens more when competitive exams like a JEE or NEET approaches. Hence, the grant allocated to provide salaries to the teachers are not being assigned for the required purpose and have proven to be a waste.
What’s even worse is that these junior colleges do not even provide a permanent receipt for the entire fee charged from the students. This means, they’re also burn a hole in the State’s revenue by evading the tax.
Since, the number of students coming to junior colleges is very less, on most days there is no fixed schedule and regular classes are not even conducted. This is only proving to be extremely detrimental for the students. It also affects the students who have not joined any coaching institute and are only dependent on the college and self-study to prepare for examinations.
It is also observed that many teachers working in these junior colleges are also employed at private coaching centres after the college hours. This again, is a blatant violation of law, which prohibits the
teachers of any government-aided junior college from teaching in private coaching centres.
In 2005, the then Deputy Director of Education, (Nagpur division) Dr.Shridhar Salunke had tightened the noose on teachers and the coaching centres. Under his supervision, many raids were conducted in coaching centres that were operational in the city. Teachers of both government-aided and non-aided junior colleges were found teaching at private coaching centres during the raids.
During one such raid at a coaching centre at Reshimbagh, 200 students were found enrolled and taking coaching lessons and the faculty members of that coaching institute were teachers of some of the most renowned junior colleges of the city.
At that time, a show cause notice was issued to the respective junior colleges asking a clarification from them. A hefty fine of Rs. 2 lakh to Rs. 5 lakh was also imposed on the junior colleges which were found guilty of violating the norms but the fine was never paid to the Education Department.
What’s more shocking and unfortunate was that no action was initiated against those teachers who were found guilty of this grave violation.
Things turned from bad to worse after Dr Salunke left Nagpur. His successors have not shown any interest in implementing stringent policies which could alleviate the current situation. There have been no raids and the Deputy Directors have turned a blind eye to this on-going predicament.
There has been no effort to expose the nexus between the colleges and coaching institutes. In absence of any stern action, the nexus has only strengthened and the situation has only gotten worse.
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