Dr Vikas Divyakirti, founder and MD of Drishti IAS, has said that there is no single authority to regulate coaching centers and there is a deficiency in coordination among various agencies
Our Bureau
New Delhi
Protests outside the coaching institutes in Delhi’s Rajinder Nagar continue for the fourth day on Wednesday after three UPSC aspirants lost their lives in a flooding incident at the basement of the Rau’s IAS coaching center. The students have been protesting because they believe that their demands have not been met yet.
A student stated that they are in talks with the authorities and the work for some of their demands has started. “We are holding regular talks with the Delhi Police. We will also bring new demands. Officials are working to resolve some of the demands,” she said.
Amid widespread concern over the deaths of three civil services aspirants due to drowning inside a coaching center in Delhi, Dr Vikas Divyakirti, founder and MD of Drishti IAS, has said that there is no single authority to regulate coaching centers and there is a deficiency in coordination among various agencies.
In an interview, Divyakirti said education is a concurrent subject and while the Education Ministry had issued model guidelines for regulation of coaching centers, states have not taken serious steps in this regard. “There is no authority to regulate coaching centers. There is for schools, colleges and universities, but not for coaching institutes. The central government has proposed a policy on it. As education comes under concurrent list, the Centre pushes state governments to make laws on it, although, states haven’t taken a serious step in this regard, but Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan have taken some steps in this regard,” he said.
Divyakirti said the 2016 building bye-laws concerning Delhi were amended in 2020 and under the heading of educational building coaching institutes were added, which meant, the norms of educational building will apply to coaching institutes.
Meanwhile, Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor has expressed regret that Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi is politicizing the enforcement actions against coaching centers operating from basements, especially when the Municipal Corporation is addressing the issue holistically under Ashwani Kumar’s leadership.
Kapoor highlighted that the primary focus is on Rajinder Nagar, where a library was illegally operating from the basement of Rau’s Academy, and the drains in Old Rajinder Nagar were clogged, leading to waterlogging around the academy.
He attributed the deaths of three students to the waterlogging, which caused a backflow into the basement. Kapoor blamed Minister Atishi and Mayor Dr. Oberoi for failing to ensure the drains were cleaned, despite their claims otherwise.
He criticized Mayor Oberoi for attempting to divert attention to illegal basements instead of addressing the actual problem. Kapoor urged AAP leaders, including the Mayor, to stop interfering with actions against illegal institutes and PG accommodations in Rajinder Nagar and other parts of Delhi, and let the Municipal Commissioner handle it directly.
Also, following the deaths of three students at a coaching institute in Old Rajinder Nagar due to severe waterlogging, Delhi Minister Atishi said on Wednesday that the interim inquiry report by the MCD has come. She added that the inquiry report highlighted that the drain present in the area was the main reason for the waterlogging and that the library set up in the coaching center was illegal.
“An interim inquiry report has been received by MCD, and a preliminary report has been submitted. Two key things that came to light regarding the coaching center incident, were that the drain, which is the reason for the waterlogging in that area, was encroached upon by all the coaching centers there, because of which water was not going down the drain. The other thing is, the way coaching centers were running classes in the basement and libraries were set up, was 100 per cent illegal. The permission given to the coaching center by the building department was to use the basement only as a storage or parking space. The rest of the inquiry report will come in seven days,” she said. Further, she said that after the magisterial report would come, strict action would be taken.
