Recommendation to Tamil Nadu Government to ban training centres being run in schools

Tamil Nadu: It is reported that the state education policy has recommended the Tamil Nadu government to ban coaching centers running in schools. The Tamil Nadu government is constantly opposing the National Education Policy-2020 of the Central Government. It has also announced that as an alternative, a separate education policy will be made for the state. A 14-member committee headed by retired Justice T. Murugesan was constituted in 2022 to prepare this education policy. This committee heard the views of various parties including teachers and educationists and prepared a report of about 600 pages in October 2023. After 10 months, the committee headed by Justice Murugesan submitted the draft of the State Education Policy to Chief Minister Stalin on July 1, 2024. It included various recommendations including continuation of bilingual policy in Tamil Nadu, transfer of education to the state list and not conducting competitive admissions in colleges. It was said that all parties would be consulted on this report and further action would be taken. However, even after a year, the next phase of work on this issue has not started.

In this context, it has been learned that the State Education Policy recommends a ban on coaching centers running in schools. In this regard, officials of the School Education Department said, ‘Coaching centers are running in some private schools in Tamil Nadu to prepare students for entrance examinations including NEET and JEE.

In these, students are trained only for entrance examinations without completing the entire syllabus or teaching lessons. Therefore, training centers run in schools or by the school itself should be banned. Otherwise, the Education Policy Committee has recommended forming a committee to define and regulate the activities of these centers.