Special Correspondent
Pune : The state government allocates thousands of crores of rupees annually to empower students from underprivileged families, providing them with training for competitive exams like UPSC, MPSC, banking services, and police recruitment. Training is outsourced to private coaching centers via a tender process. A key policy aimed at ensuring fairness caps the number of aspirants per class at 200. This policy, originally introduced to accommodate more students, was implemented following requests from the students themselves. However, reports indicate that certain private coaching operators, in collusion with corrupt student union leaders, are trying to have the cap policy removed to increase their profits.
A nexus of coaching center operators, NGOs, student union office-bearers, and unscrupulous individuals is allegedly working to undermine the cap policy, jeopardizing taxpayers’ money and the future of thousands of aspirants. Despite the uniform capping policy, some coaching institutes have been found admitting between 300 and 750 aspirants per class, circumventing the cap and generating massive revenues.
Exposing the Manipulative Tactics
An anonymous high-ranking official has exposed how these operators manipulate the system. A tender process was initiated to offer coaching for competitive exams, including banking and police recruitment. However, coaching centers for these two areas are significantly fewer, which has resulted in their operators facing losses due to the cap policy. To counter this, certain student organizations that previously demanded the cap are now pressuring the state government to lift it. They argue that students should be allowed to choose their preferred coaching classes freely. Behind this campaign, it is believed that private operators have been offering bribes and financial incentives to student union leaders, who are now working to dismantle the cap policy.
These operators have also formed cartels in major cities like Pune, Mumbai, Nagpur, Nashik, and Sambhaji Nagar, organizing protests and agitations to increase their influence. Despite the pressure, the Implementation and Monitoring Committee for Competitive Exam Pre-Training Programs, managed by state bodies like Sarathi, TRTI, and Barti, continues to enforce the cap policy, with Mahajyoti leaving the committee under political pressure. However, the cap remains in place across other autonomous organizations that oversee the training process.
Unethical Practices by Coaching Centers
In a bid to attract more students, some private coaching companies are offering lucrative incentives, including free tablets and 50% cashback on training fees. Additionally, even students who don’t attend classes are marked present through biometric cards, enabling these centers to meet attendance quotas without students actively participating. This practice has encouraged many students to enroll in these dubious coaching centers, even though they are not part of the official training scheme.
As the battle between private coaching operators and the government intensifies, the question remains: will the state government be able to protect the interests of the students and ensure that taxpayer money is not siphoned off by corrupt practices? The ongoing manipulation and unethical strategies used by a few operators put the future of this initiative at risk, calling for greater vigilance and stricter enforcement of policies.
