UPSC Coaching Centre Deaths: GST collection from coaching institutes grew 146% in 5 years

NEW DELHI: The total goods and services tax (GST) collected from the coaching centres across the country has more than doubled in the past five years, government data shared with the Rajya Sabha shows. Total GST collected from coaching grew to Rs 5,517.45 crore in 2023-24 from Rs 2,240.73 crore in 2019-20.

Last week, before flooding in the basement of Rau's IAS Study Circle in Delhi’s Old Rajinder Nagar caused the death of three Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) aspirants, Congress’ Jebi Mather Hisham, Rajya Sabha member from Kerala, had sought details on the “current market revenue of the coaching industry that caters to competitive exams”, the leading coaching centres and GST collected from various types of private tutorials and coaching, including those operating in the distance education format.

Of these, the union government could furnish data for GST collection only. It has collected Rs 17,685.57 crore in GST over the past five years and it has increased steadily in the post-Covid period.

The deaths of the three civil services aspirants at a library housed in the basement of their coaching centre, which got inundated following heavy rain on Saturday evening, also sparked furious debate in both Houses of parliament on Monday.

Coaching Centres: Unregulated, no policy

The GST collection from coaching centres has witnessed a continuous increase from the financial year 2020-21 to 2023-24, shows the data shared by minister of state for education Sukanta Majumdar.

In response to Mather-Hisham’s question, Majumdar stated that there has been a “growth in the number of unregulated private coaching centres in the country” and that there was an “absence of any laid down policy or regulation”.

He reminded that the education ministry in January had circulated a ‘Guidelines for Regulation of Coaching Center’ to states and union territories (UTs) for consideration by way of appropriate legal framework. “Education being in the concurrent list, the state and UT governments need to take further action by way of appropriate legal framework,” he said. The guidelines had come in the wake of a record number of suicide deaths in Kota, a coaching hub in Rajasthan, in 2023.

Members of coaching institute associations had earlier pointed to the several “loopholes” in the coaching guidelines.

They questioned the silence on online coaching and asked if the institutes providing coaching for civil services and others are out of the ambit of regulation, since the document mostly talks about school students and school hours.

He further informed that the government has launched SATHEE platform to provide high-quality content for competitive examinations like Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for engineering and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for medical, along with providing an online assessment module for students.

UPSC student death and parliament

Members in both Houses of Parliament demanded inquiry into the Old Rajinder Nagar incident and demanded action against coaching centres flouting the norms.

Several members of the Congress Party, including Mather and Lok Sabha MP from Kerala’s Thiruvanathpuram Shashi Tharoor, visited Delhi’s RML Hospital to meet the families of the students affected in the Rajinder Nagar tragedy.

Nevin Delvin, a Kerala resident and research scholar at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) was among the three students who died in the Old Rajinder Nagar tragedy. The other two victims are Shreya Yadav of Uttar Pradesh and Tanya Soni from Telangana.

In Lok Sabha, Tharoor termed the incident “shocking”.

“I have just visited the hospital and met with the uncle of the boy from Kerala who unfortunately lost his life on the weekend. It is a shocking situation… This is a matter that obviously calls for compensation, but no compensation can be enough for the tragic loss of life of a young man cut short in his prime…,” he said. Tharoor further asked for a “comprehensive inquiry” to prevent such future tragedies.

KC Venugopal, Congress MP from Kerala’s Alappuzha, also raised the issue of “the horrific lack of safety in coaching institutes” in India. He demanded action against coaching institutes flouting government norms.

Samajwadi Party MP Akhilesh Yadav has written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla requesting him to direct the government to provide compensation of Rs 1 crore each to the families of the deceased students and also fix responsibility for this incident and take strict action immediately. “It's a painful incident. It's the responsibility of the officers to plan and provide No Objection Certificates (NOCs), the question is who all are responsible and what actions are being taken against them. It's not just a single case of illegal building, we are seeing it in UP that illegal buildings are being bulldozed, will this government run a bulldozer here or not?" Kannauj MP Akhilesh Yadav said during discussion in Lok Sabha.

Bansuri Swaraj, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from New Delhi constituency, blamed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for “criminal negligence” behind the death of three UPSC aspirants.

“For a decade, AAP has been enjoying power in Delhi, but not doing work for the people of Delhi. MCD has been under AAP for the last two years and Delhi Jal Board is also under them. The residents of Old Rajinder Nagar were continuously complaining to the local MLA, councillor and officers - the MLA kept doing satire but didn't take any action. I request the home ministry to form a committee to investigate the matter,” she added.

In Rajya Sabha, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar said that coaching has become “virtually commerce”. “Every time we read a newspaper, the front one or two pages are of their advertisements,” he said. “Coaching has become a flourishing industry with high returns and the kind of advertisements, I said, need to be examined. Every penny spent on advertisements is coming from the student. Every new building is coming from the student. So there is really a need for an approach that can go a long way in tackling it.”

The VP had earlier on Friday said that commercialisation of coaching and education slows down the growth of a nation.

Taking part in a short debate in the Rajya Sabha over the issue, union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan termed the incident “unfortunate”. He said coaching institutes have to follow the rules and regulations and asserted that there should be no politics over the death of the UPSC aspirants.

What happened at Delhi coaching centre?

Students have continued their protest in Old Rajinder Nagar against the deaths. Media reports suggest that the basement quickly filled with 10-12 feet of water, leaving students with no chance to escape.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has terminated a junior engineer, suspended an assistant engineer, and sought an explanation from the concerned executive engineer. It also launched an anti-encroachment drive to remove illegal structures covering storm drains which led to waterlogging in the area on Monday. It had sealed 13 illegal coaching centres there, including Rau's IAS Study Circle. The MCD on Monday also launched a sealing drive in northwest Delhi's Mukherjee Nagar, a hub of UPSC coaching centres.

Seven out of the five accused arrested by Delhi Police have been sent to 14-day judicial custody by Delhi's Tis Hazari Court. The owner of the basement which was flooded, the UPSC coaching centre CEO and the coaching coordinator were among the five taken into custody.

Delhi minister Atishi has written to Delhi chief secretary regarding the Old Rajinder Nagar incident directing him to submit the magisterial enquiry report by 10pm today.

“I am yet to receive any official report or information from the chief secretary on the incident. This raises very serious questions. Either the officers of GNCTD are not serious about enquiring into this tragedy, or they are trying to protect someone. The chief secretary is again directed to submit the magisterial enquiry report on the incident by 10pm today [July 29]," she writes.

Meanwhile National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notices to Delhi Police, MCD, and the government over the deaths of three students and asked them to submit a report within two weeks.

Rau’s IAS Study Circle promised cooperation to the ongoing probe and support to the affected families.

If you know someone – friend or family member – at risk of suicide, please reach out to them. Those in distress or having suicidal thoughts or tendencies could seek help and counselling by calling 9820466726 or visiting AASRA’s official website or can call iCALL on 9152987821. Here are some more helpline numbers of suicide prevention organisations that can offer emotional support to individuals and families.