Supreme Court to Hear Petition Against Coaching Centres and 'Dummy School' System
The Supreme Court is set to hear a petition seeking an end to what the petitioner describes as India's 'coaching Raj' and the establishment of a national framework to address the 'dummy school' nexus, which allegedly harms children's mental health and violates their right to equal education.
The writ petition, filed by advocate Narendra Kumar Goswami, argues that the current system creates a two-tier structure. It claims that while some students have access to expensive coaching centres with curated materials and exam strategies, others from ordinary schools are unprepared for competitive exams. This, the petitioner states, amounts to 'state-manufactured inequality' rather than equality of opportunity.
The plea calls on the court to direct the government and other authorities to dismantle the unregulated private coaching ecosystem and align entrance exam patterns for tests like JEE, NEET, CLAT, and CUET with the school syllabus prescribed by the state.
Mr. Goswami highlighted the phenomenon of 'dummy schools,' where children are formally enrolled in CBSE or state board schools but do not attend regular classes, instead spending long hours in coaching centres. He described this as a 'fraud on schooling, a fraud on the child, and a fraud on Article 21A' of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to education.
The petition contends that the stress from the private coaching regime constitutes a 'national constitutional emergency,' particularly affecting children from poor, rural, SC/ST/OBC/EWS, and first-generation learner families. It alleges a nexus among coaching centres, dummy schools, examination bodies, and regulatory inaction.
According to the petitioner, the formal education system has been displaced by coaching centres, and the constitutional promise of education has been replaced by the commercial pursuit of ranks. The petition relies on official documents, including the Ministry of Education's 2024 guidelines for coaching centres and CCPA guidelines on misleading advertisements, arguing that these steps are insufficient.
The respondents in the case include the Union government, the National Testing Agency, CBSE, NCERT, the National Medical Commission, the IIT Council, the Bar Council of India, the Staff Selection Commission, and various states.
