Tuition centres ask govt to come clean on ban

Rifat Mohidin

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, April 23

The Coaching Centres Association (CCA) on Monday asked the government to come clear on the three-month ban on the tuition centres in Kashmir.

At a press conference on Monday, Coaching Centres Association chairman Junaid Yusuf said the ban was ill-advised and would impact the career of lakhs of students in Kashmir who were dependent on private coaching as the school work had suffered in the past few months.

“Since the opening of the schools this year, there have been less than 20 working days due to the protests. The coaching centres have been working every day. What is the point of the ban? The government will have to revoke it,” Yusuf said.

Minister for Education Syed Altaf Bukhari on Sunday announced that the private coaching centres were banned for three months, terming them a distraction and a way to contain protests.

Association member Latief Masoodi said the coaching centres that worked under them would function normally on Tuesday as the government had not come out with a formal order. “We will function till the order is out. We want to tell the government that all programmes run by the coaching centres are integrated courses and cater to the demands of competitive exams of different nature,” Masoodi said, adding that the government has said it will allow those coaching centres to function which are preparing students for competitive exams.

“We want the government’s clarity on the issue,” he said.

The CCA said it would not allow the students to suffer, calling the ban on coaching centres the ‘high-handedness’ of the government.

“A student’s place is in the classroom and that’s how it should be,” it said.

The CCA said it was ready to engage with the government on the issue. “We were never consulted by the government. We are ready to talk to the government so that the issue can be solved,” the association said.