Pune: Once FYJC classes begin this year, education department authorities will conduct regular inspections to ensure that a school or a college’s premises are not used for coaching classes and that students enrolled in them do not remain absent to attend coaching institutes.Ganpat More, deputy director of education, said that if students are found to be regularly absent during two or three inspections, a proposal to derecognise the division would be sent to govt. The move is aimed at curbing the integrated coaching culture, which has been under scrutiny for some time but came into sharper focus following the NEET paper leak controversy.“There is ‘integrated college’ recognized by the education department. It is up to the parents where they want to admit their children. If they don’t want them to study in Std XI, that is their choice. They can take admission in a coaching class, fill up form no. 17, and take the examination. But if you are taking admission in a college, then you are bound to follow the rules and regulations laid down by the education department,” More said.He added that many colleges avail different concessions as a teaching institute. “From salary to non-salary grants and other benefits, if you are registered as a college, you have to follow govt norms and impart education. You cannot have teachers on rolls doing nothing while students are taught by coaching classes,” he said.From cluster head to state-level officers, inspections are expected at least once a week. “If we find that students are repeatedly absent or that teachers on the roster are not the ones teaching or if practicals or other aspects of the teaching schedule are not followed repeatedly in 2-3 inspections, we will send a report to govt recommending de-recognition of the division,” More said.While welcoming the move to inspect schools and colleges, Mahendra Ganpule, spokesperson for Maharashtra School Principals’ Federation, pointed out that if regular colleges were to prepare students for exams like NEET and CET effectively, parents would not feel the need to turn to private coaching classes.Ganpule said colleges may not be willing to undertake such preparations and it was not enough to simply call for a ban on private coaching classes. Without a viable alternative, the students’ future cannot be left to chance.He said the prevailing perception is that the prescribed syllabus for Std XI and XII board examinations is merely a chore to be completed out of sheer necessity.“Enrolling in a college and submitting the board exam application through that institution is the standard and mandatory procedure. However, the current trend suggests that a majority of parents find this system undesirable as times change. This is because the moment mandatory college attendance is enforced, the question about how a student is to prepare for NEET and JEE crops up,” Ganpule added.
