The State has invited suggestions and objections on the draft Bill. This page sets out its major provisions in plain language. Verify your phone number once, then vote on each point, respond to a whole point or a single line of it, raise a point the draft has missed, and file your own written representation. Everything is compiled into one summary the authorities can read at a glance.
Coaching centres are currently taxed as service providers at 18% GST. If the sector is now to be formally registered and regulated as an education provider, the tax treatment should follow: a concessional slab (for example 5%) so the benefit reaches parents and so centres can fund the infrastructure this Bill mandates.
Every private coaching centre must register through a State online portal. Registration lasts three years and renewal must be started at least three months before expiry. Existing centres get six months from commencement. Every branch counts as a separate centre with its own application and fee.
A coaching centre may not enrol any student below thirteen years of age. Read with the definition of "Coaching", this covers academic tuition for more than 25 students but excludes counselling, sports, dance, theatre, painting and yoga.
Every centre must publish and keep updated: tutor qualifications and experience, courses offered, duration and hours, fees per course, physical facilities, the refund procedure and permissible refund amount, and the permitted batch strength for each course.
A receipt must be issued immediately on any payment. The declared course fee must include prospectus, notes, study material and internal examinations — nothing may be charged under any other head. The fee cannot be increased during the course. A student leaving mid-course must be refunded on a pro-rata basis within ten days, including hostel and mess fees.
A centre may not promise or guarantee a rank or good marks to induce enrolment, and may not publish any misleading advertisement about the quality of coaching, the facilities offered, or the results procured by the centre or its students. "Misleading advertisement" carries its Consumer Protection Act, 2019 meaning.
No coaching centre may engage a tutor holding qualifications less than graduation.
It shall not be permissible to appoint or hire the services of any person already appointed and working as a teacher in an approved or recognised school or junior college.
"Integration" is defined very widely — any agreement, arrangement, understanding, practice or mechanism, formal or informal, direct or indirect, that creates an operational, administrative, academic, financial or managerial connection between a recognised school and a coaching centre. No centre may operate on school or college premises. A school proved to be involved can be recommended for derecognition.
Classes must not be excessive for a student — not more than five hours in a day — and coaching hours should be neither too early in the morning nor too late in the evening.
A weekly off is mandatory for students as well as tutors. No assessment test or examination may be held on the day after the weekly off. During important regional festivals, leave must be customised so students can connect with family.
Batch segregation on academic performance grounds shall not be done, as it leads to excessive pressure affecting mental health. Batches must be formed in the order of entry or admission and must not be changed until the course is completed.
A coaching centre shall not make public the result of any assessment test it conducts. Results are to be used only for systematic improvement, and a student whose performance is deteriorating must be given counselling.
A minimum of one square metre per student must be available in each class or batch. No centre may operate in any basement area. Appropriate parking must be provided for students and staff. The building must comply with fire and building safety codes and hold a current Fire and Building Safety Certificate. Existing centres get six months to upgrade.
A first aid kit and primary medical assistance facility, plus a displayed list of referral hospitals, doctors, police, fire and women's helplines. Well-ventilated, well-lit classrooms. Safe drinking water. CCTV covering all areas with at least one month of footage retained. A complaint box or register. Separate, clean, CWSN-friendly toilets for boys and girls within the premises.
A centre may not be registered or continue to operate unless it has adopted a counselling system. It must establish a mechanism for immediate intervention for students in distress, publish the names and availability of psychologists and counsellors to all students and parents, may appoint or hire trained counsellors, and must hold parent sessions on positive parenting and student mental health.
An aptitude test must be conducted to assess the student's capability, and the centre may convey a realistic expectation to parents and suggest a way forward. Students and parents must be told in writing that admission is no guarantee of success. Information about career options other than engineering and medicine must be provided.
Every centre must maintain detailed digital records of enrolled students — educational progress, aptitude and record of learning abilities — in the format prescribed by the Government, and must maintain such records for at least the past ten years from commencement of the Act.
Within one month of commencement, every centre must formulate a detailed grievance redressal mechanism and publish it on its website and notice board — covering how to complain, the responsible officer, the SOP, timelines, and escalation if unresolved. Any complaint under POCSO 2012 or the POSH Act 2013 requires action within twenty-four hours and immediate provision of all information including CCTV footage to the Government. Offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita must be reported to the police immediately.
An Inquiry Officer may inquire on a complaint or suo motu, call for records, books of accounts and CCTV footage, enter premises after three working days' written notice — or without that notice where there is a complaint or sufficient reason in public interest — search premises, and seize documents, computers, CCTV recordings and storage devices against a seizure memorandum. Inquiry officers hold civil court powers of summons, evidence on oath and discovery; proceedings are deemed judicial.
Fines of ₹1 lakh to ₹5 lakh for minor violations; up to ₹10 lakh for repeated minor violations; ₹10 lakh to ₹50 lakh for major violations. Major violations include unregistered operation, misleading advertising, guarantees of rank, enrolling under-13s, operating in a basement, fire and building safety failures, integration with a school, and any breach of the fee or grievance provisions. Punishment may also include temporary suspension, permanent cancellation of registration, closure, and a recommendation to derecognise a school.
No centre may discriminate against any tutor, non-teaching staff or student on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or physical disability. Equal educational opportunity must be provided to Divyang students. The building and surrounding premises must comply with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, and tutors must be sensitised regarding learning disabilities.
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