Registration, safety framework mandatory under coaching Bill

Patna: Even as the state govt on Wednesday signalled stricter regulation of coaching institutes following the attack on a city-based coaching centre, the state education department has already drafted the Bihar Coaching Centres (Control and Regulation) Bill, 2026 and displayed it on its website on May 11, inviting suggestions from the stakeholders.The draft Bill pertaining to the regulatory guidelines had asked the people to file their suggestions on the draft regulations within a fortnight.As per the draft regulations, every coaching institute is required to apply for registration to the district administration which will constitute a registration committee. The said registration committee will assess the infrastructure, facilities to students and amenities of particular coaching institutes. After the approval of the registration committee with the district administration, the registration of coaching institutes will take place in the education department. All the coaching institutes will have to file the application for registration within three months from the date of implementation of the regulatory guidelines in the state. Application for the registration will be made to the district committee on prescribed application along with a registration fee of Rs15,000. An institution with multiple centres will have to get registered separately for each centre.After the commencement of this Act, if any person is found to be engaged in running coaching institution without registration, a penalty of Rs1 lakh shall be imposed on them. In case, the fine is not deposited within 15 days, the premises in which the coaching was being run, shall be attached and the fine shall be recovered as arrears of land revenue from the attached property.The regulations provide that there shall be sufficient infrastructure at the coaching centre in proportion to the number of students enrolled; and the coaching centre building shall adhere to fire safety codes, building safety codes, building bylaws and other standards and shall obtain a fire and building safety certificate from the local body concerned.However, some academics have expressed their grave concern over the requirement of space per student prescribed in the Bill. It has prescribed the requirement of only two square feet per student which is much less than the required. In the earlier regulations prescribed in 2010, a minimum of one square metre (about 11 square feet) per student was prescribed.State elementary teachers’ association’s patron Amit Vikram suggested that besides providing sufficient space for students, the coaching centre should also adopt necessary measures to ensure safety of its students, especially the girls enrolled in the institute.