Govt urged to allow reopening of IELTS centres

Amritsar: IELTS coaching centres are among the worst-hit institutions in the city since the pandemic. But even as the Covid-19 curbs have been relaxed and unlock process has begun, these centres continue to remain shut as the government excluded these IELTS centres from being reopened. Demanding a consideration, representatives of the IELTS centres from city have urged the government to allow reopening of IELTS centres. Not just these centres, even the tuition centre owners had repeatedly raised the demand for resumption of business as mounting financial losses have become a cause for worry for most. Ankit Manglani, who runs an IELTS coaching centre in Ranjit Avenue, appealed to the government to save the livelihood of those in the industry. “Things are going to become worse in the near future if IELTS centres are not allowed to reopen. We have to pay rents and salaries of the staff we employ. We have been carrying out our coaching operations through online mode working almost every hour a day. But this cannot sustain for long as most businesses have resumed. We too should be allowed to reopen.” Although, most of the IELTS centres were running via online mode, post unlock, a surge of prospective candidates seeking overseas education and immigration will need resumption of offline operations. “Many students who have applied for foreign varsities are in catch-22 situation. Also, employees in the training centres too are anticipating about the future,” said Sumit Sharma, chairman, Association of Visa and IELTS Centres, Amritsar. TNS