No coaching classes for college teachers

MUMBAI, June 24: College teachers augmenting their income by conducting private tutorials and coaching classes will have to stop this practi...

MUMBAI, June 24: College teachers augmenting their income by conducting private tutorials and coaching classes will have to stop this practice forthwith or run the risk of suspension. The University of Mumbai also runs the risk of forfeiting government grants to the extent of the defaulting teachers8217; salaries if it fails to bar teachers from participating in these private tutorials.

In an interim order today, the Bombay High Court has asked the university to henceforth strictly enforce the existing code of conduct for teachers, which already bars faculty members from conducting private tutorials and extra coaching. The state government has also been directed to constitute a high-level committee to inspect coaching classes all over the state and conduct surprise checks at these establishments. It has also been asked to inform the court whether coaching classes need a regulatory framework. The directions were issued on a petition filed by the Forum For Fairness in Education, which is seeking to call a halt tothe commercialisation of education.

The petition alleges that the coaching class network in the state, especially in Mumbai, is a racket where the fees are 20 times that charged by colleges. The classes also induct paper-setters into their faculties, which leak question papers to students who attend them, the petition alleges.

Apart from the directions on coaching classes, the court has also issued specific guidelines for colleges affiliated to the University of Mumbai. The university and the joint director of higher education have been told to publicise circulars, government resolutions and ordinances which apprise students of the compulsory attendance clause which makes it mandatory for students to attend college for a specified period to qualify for the final examination. The university has also been given an option to set up an investigating team to monitor attendance sheets in colleges. The university8217;s counsel said the varsity has drawn up guidelines to make a minimum 75 per cent attendancecompulsory. Senior faculty members of every college will be told to monitor roll call and heads of department asked to record absentees every month.

However, it is difficult for the university to keep a constant vigil on colleges and more so coaching classes, the counsel argued.

Counsel for the respondent coaching classes denied that these classes charge exorbitant fees adding that they merely fulfil an academic need of students. The Maharashtra Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education was also made party to the petition today. Board counsel, Deepa Chavan, said the controversy over coaching classes should be viewed in the perspective of present-day standards of education, which goes beyond examinations. The next hearing is scheduled for July 27.