Raj govt brings in watered down bill on coaching institutes, stakeholders say many concerns unaddressed

Jaipur, Sep 2 (PTI) After protests from multiple quarters, the Rajasthan government has brought in an amended version of its bill to regulate coaching centres, reducing proposed penalties and the ambit of institutions covered under it.

However, legislators and stakeholders said the fresh draft skirts many contentious issues flagged by them.

The Rajasthan Coaching Centres (Control and Regulation) Bill, 2025, first tabled in March in the Assembly, had proposed bringing all centres with over 50 students under its ambit. The amended version raises this threshold to 100 students.

It also relaxes the fine structure -- violations will now attract a penalty of Rs 50,000 for the first offence and Rs 2 lakh for the second, with cancellation of registration for subsequent breaches. The original draft had envisaged fines of Rs 2 lakh and Rs 5 lakh.

Despite these changes, the Bill does not address major criticisms voiced earlier. MLAs from both the BJP and Congress had argued that the draft ignored key guidelines issued by the Centre in 2024, including fixing 16 years as the minimum age for admission into coaching institutes. Others said the Bill did little to address rising cases of student suicides, could encourage 'inspector raj' and might drive the Rs 60,000-crore coaching industry out of Rajasthan, especially Kota -- the country's coaching hub.

Following the debate in March this year, the Bill was sent to the Select Committee for review.

Leader of Opposition Tikaram Jully reiterated his opposition, alleging, "The government is surrounded by the coaching mafia. They don't want to bring the Bill, but are bound by court directions." "There is no justification for this amended Bill either. There has been a spate of suicides in the last year, but despite that, the government only wants to benefit the coaching centres and doesn't care about the students or their parents," he alleged.

BJP leaders had also warned earlier that the legislation could hurt employment and education in the state.

Former minister Anita Bhadel had said coaching centres provided jobs to 10 lakh people and educated around 50 lakh students. Kalicharan Saraf had argued that if the bill was passed in its earlier form, "the Rs 60,000-crore coaching business would move out of Rajasthan".

The Bill mandates registration for all eligible centres and proposes state- and district-level authorities for enforcement. It is expected to come up for debate in the ongoing Monsoon session of the Assembly.

Meanwhile, the Rajasthan Parents' Association also opposed the amended Bill, calling it "impractical" and demanding further revisions.

Association spokesperson Abhishek Jain Bittu said, "It is essential that parents' suggestions are included in the Bill. On sensitive issues like student suicides, it is wrong to merely blame parents and close the matter." "If parents are at fault, there should be equal rules and punishment for all stakeholders -- be it parents, students or coaching centre operators." The association's memorandum listed five demands, including uniform applicability of the Act to all coaching centres, joint parent-operator committees for fee regulation, mandatory suicide-prevention meetings involving multiple stakeholders, and inclusion of parents' representatives in grievance redressal panels. PTI AG RT