Government to examine the appeal of private coaching centers to start their classes

By: Musaib Iqbal MK

Srinagar

After the owners of private coaching centers recently met the Chief Secretary and appealed to him that they should be allowed to open the centers for the students, the government has asked the Education Department to look into the matter.

Thousands of students have already enrolled themselves with these private coaching institutes and it is a huge business which has mushroomed in the recent past especially in Rajbagh and Hyderpora areas.

Sources told news agency Kashmir News Trust that six members of the Private Educational Institutions Association of Jammu and Kashmir called on Chief Secretary. The members sought permission for conducting off-line classes for IAS, KAS, NEET, JEE with 30% of the capacity for the vaccinated students.

One of the members present in the meeting despite repeated requests didn’t divulge any information, however, another member on condition of anonymity said that they informed the Chief Secretary that in states like Rajasthan, HP, Assam, Goa, and others, permission to conduct offline classes have been given citing that examination is just 4 months away and also the age groups of the students who are enrolled with coaching institutes are above 18 and vaccinated.

“We requested him (Chief Secretary) to allow us to conduct offline classes with at least 30 % strength which will be around 25 students in a class, for the betterment of aspirants. We assured him that we will strictly follow Covid-19 Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) while conducting physical classrooms,” he said.

The positive aspect of the meeting was that Chief Secretary Arun Mehta wrote to the Additional Chief Secretary who in a communique to Secretary Disaster Management asked him to look into the matter.

“We met both the Chief Secretary and the Additional Chief Secretary and we hope the government will make a decision shortly in this regard,” he said.

Those who participated in the meeting were Owais Ali Bhat from Chanakya IAS Academy, Khurshid Alam from KIE,  Amit  Vidya from Mandir Classes, Azhar from Exceptional Academy for comp, Ghulam Rasool War, Chairman, Coaching Association of J&K, and Waseem Ahmed from Ignited Minds.

Meanwhile, the Private Schools and Children Welfare Association has demanded the re-opening of the education sector for behoof of future of students. The Association has said that It doesn’t make sense to shut the education sector in the name of the Corona Virus.

Ever since the government ordered the closure of coaching centres and schools, netizens and common people have been raising eyebrows. “Tourism and sports events are being organized on daily basis, markets are open, transport is open, one can see over-loaded buses plying on the roads, hoteliers serving customers at one place, political events or rallies being organized without any cap but when it comes to education, Covid-19 surfaces.”

“The irony is that yesterday 111 micro-containment zones were de-notified by Srinagar administration but most of the newspapers ignored this development and instead came up with the news report with bold headlines that 54 localities in Srinagar have been declared micro containment zones. Sensationalism makes things worse, the more we give hype, the more go into depression,” said an educationist.

With KNT inputs