How Rajasthan's Coaching Bill Protects Institutes, Not Students: And Why BJP Alone Isn't To Blame

The Rajasthan Assembly passed the 'Rajasthan Coaching Centres (Control and Regulation) Bill 2025' on 3 September amid uproar over it being a 'watered down' legislation.

The leader of the Opposition (LoP) of the Congress party, Tika Ram Jully, alleged that the Bill does not safeguard students but protects the coaching centres instead.

The idea for the Bill originated from the growing number of student suicides in Rajasthan, especially in the coaching hub Kota. Taking suo motu cognisance of the matter, the Rajasthan High Court directed the state government to form regulations.

In January 2025, the Bhajan Lal Sharma-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) told the court that a Bill was being drafted and was likely to be brought in the Budget session of the Assembly.

Subsequently, the Bill was tabled in the Assembly in March but was sent to the Select Committee after objections from both ruling and opposition members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs).

It was believed that the objections raised about the divergence from the Centre's 'Guidelines for Regulation of Coaching Centres' would be addressed in the redrafted Bill. Instead, the opposite happened.

The new Bill further loosened the provisions by reducing the penalty on coaching centres and increasing the student strength limit for centres to come under this Bill.

This has attracted criticism from the Opposition, which argues that the Bill is a compromised reform prioritising the economic stakes of the 'Rs 60,000 crore coaching industry' over student welfare.

The Issues With the Bill

The foremost issue is that when the earlier draft proposed a penalty of Rs 2 lakh for the first violation and Rs 5 lakh for the second violation, why has it now been reduced to Rs 50,000 and Rs 2 lakh respectively?

LoP Jully alleged that this was done to strengthen coaching institutions. The Bhajan Lal government’s rationale is that irrational penalties would negatively affect the coaching industry and thus harm employment creation.

Another issue is that in the earlier proposed draft, any study programme enrolling more than 50 students was required to register itself as a 'coaching centre' and follow the set guidelines.

In the newly passed Bill, this limit has been extended to institutions with more than 100 students. This means institutes with fewer than 100 students would neither be required to register themselves as coaching centres nor follow the guidelines.

The government’s justification is that this safeguards smaller institutes from undue compliance pressures. LoP Jully has alleged that this would leave thousands of coaching centres outside the ambit of the Bill, leaving students vulnerable.

The biggest issue, however, is the neglect of the Centre's 'Guidelines for Regulation of Coaching Centres', which were issued in January 2024. These guidelines set a certain age bar on students eligible for enrolment.

The guideline stated, "No coaching centre shall enrol students below 16 years of age, or the student enrolment should be only after secondary school examination." This was neither included in the earlier draft nor in the recently passed Bill.

The Congress alleged that the Bhajan Lal government is going against even the Narendra Modi government to safeguard the interests of coaching institutes, which enrol many students younger than 16 or before they pass the class 10 examination.

What the Bill Offers

Despite these shortcomings, the Bill proposes to form two authorities, one at the state level and one at the district level, to monitor the functioning of coaching centres and address the grievances of students.

The Rajasthan Coaching Centres (Control and Regulation) Authority will have the same powers as a civil court, while the district committees will look after registration and regulation.

To reduce financial pressure on parents, coaching centres must allow the payment of fees in at least four equal instalments within the duration of the course. They must also refund the fee for the remaining period on a pro-rata basis if a student leaves the course mid-way. If a student cancels registration, a full fee refund is mandated.

To curb dummy schools, the Bill requires that coaching centres not conduct classes for students during school hours. It also sets certain infrastructure requirements, such as a minimum one square metre area per student and CCTV cameras for safety.

To reduce pressure on students, the Bill mandates at least one weekly off, festival holidays, a maximum of five hours of classes per day, co-curricular activities, and counselling sessions for the development of mental health and life skills.

The Bill directs a certain code of conduct regarding batch size, batch segregation and fees. It also mandates a counselling system that includes experienced psychologists and regular workshops.

The Bill prohibits coaching centres from publishing misleading advertisements and allows the District Committees to cancel registrations if violations occur more than twice.

Is It Enough?

It is true that the Bill introduces necessary provisions to control and regulate coaching centres. However, these provisions seem effective mainly on financial and infrastructure fronts.

The rules on fee instalments, refunds on a pro-rata basis within 10 days, and a ban on mid-course fee hikes prevent the economic exploitation of parents and relieve students from financial pressure.

The infrastructure requirements ensure that students get a safe and comfortable environment. Academic burden is also addressed through weekly holidays and a maximum of five hours of classes a day.

However, provisions on mental health support, such as career counsellors, tutor training and peer group exercises, are at risk of being reduced to formality rather than being genuinely effective.

The removal of the age bar of 16, as mandated in the Centre's guidelines, makes the mental health issue even more sensitive, with younger minds being exposed to intense coaching.

Rajasthan has also raised the threshold for registration, allowing smaller centres with 51 to 100 students to escape regulation. This diverges from the Centre's guidelines, which set the threshold at 50 students.

Furthermore, with a two-layered bureaucratic mechanism, Rajasthan's coaching regulation could become an avenue of corruption, unlike the Centre’s simpler model of a 'competent authority.'

Is BJP Alone To Be Blamed?

It is the BJP government that is accused of watering down the legislation. In its defence, the BJP has said that the Bill was unanimously passed by the Select Committee, which included several Congress MLAs.

The 15-member committee, formed on 30 May, included nine BJP MLAs, four Congress MLAs, one Independent and one Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) MLA. After four meetings, the committee unanimously finalised the draft.

The Congress MLAs not only supported the Bill in the committee but also defended it on the floor of the Assembly, even after LoP Jully had criticised it.

One example is Congress MLA Rajendra Pareek from Sikar, who defended the absence of an age bar. He argued that it would deny younger children an opportunity and said that coaching has been life-changing for students from poor rural families, giving them a chance to crack prestigious exams.

He also contested the idea that coaching centres are the main driver of student suicides and called such claims “baseless propaganda.” Instead, he argued that it is unfair to blame coaching centres for broader systemic issues.

Notably, Pareek represents Sikar, the second-largest coaching hub in Rajasthan after Kota. Critics argue that his defence was meant to safeguard the economic interests of his constituency, as he himself admitted that nearly 30–35 per cent of Sikar’s economy depends on coaching institutes.

Pareek was even rebuked by state Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra, who said, "After the LoP has spoken, no MLA should speak on any other matter. Pareek sahab was not supposed to express personal views in the House."

Pareek’s support, combined with the reluctance of other Congress MLAs to strongly oppose the Bill, shows how leaders across party lines are concerned about the economic interests of the coaching industry.

Economic Interests Above Students?

Congress MLA Manoj Kumar Meghwal from Churu’s Sujangarh claimed that among the top 20 taxpayers, most are coaching centres. He suggested that this is why a strict Bill is not being enforced.

During earlier discussions, many BJP MLAs also argued against making the Bill too strict. They claimed it would push coaching institutes to shift out of Rajasthan, causing unemployment. They also warned against giving too much power to the bureaucracy.

Deputy Chief Minister Prem Chand Bairwa stressed that the coaching sector is a major driver of employment in the state. Legislative discussions noted that the industry is vast, with around 50 lakh students enrolled, generating a Rs 60,000 crore business and providing direct and indirect employment to over 10 lakh people.

Thus, instead of solid arguments against the Bill, with a few exceptions such as LoP Jully, most MLAs avoided strong opposition. As journalist Avdhesh Pareek said, "There was no basis for any MLA to speak, as the governments have surrendered before coaching institutes."

Another journalist, Arvind Chotia, remarked, "The truth is that those in coaching have a lot of money and they also have the power to manage everyone through the strength of that money."

Thus, instead of becoming a game-changer for students, the Bill remains a regulatory framework, offering safeguards but not ensuring protection against mental exploitation.

The Rajasthan government will be able to satisfy the High Court by enforcing a Bill and claim to have accommodated some of the Centre’s guidelines. In practice, however, the Bill will not significantly change how the coaching industry functions.

What is more worrisome is that students and parents do not have a strong political voice to represent their concerns. All prominent leaders of Rajasthan, whether former CM Ashok Gehlot, former Deputy CM Sachin Pilot, or former CM Vasundhara Raje, remained silent on the issue.

This silence suggests that student suicides are still not a political issue in Rajasthan, and coaching institutes will continue to function as they wish.