Centre Issues Guidelines to Crack Down on Misleading Ads by Coaching Institutes

New Delhi: Centre on Wednesday released new guidelines to regulate misleing vertisements by coaching institutes, prohibiting false claims like 100 per cent selection or 100 per cent job security. final guidelines, drafted by Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), come in wake of several complaints on National Consumer Helpline. CCPA has issued 54 tices and imposed penalties of about Rs 54.60 lakh till date.

"We have seen coaching centres deliberately concealing information from prospective students. refore, we have come out with guidelines to provide guidance to people involved in coaching industry," Consumer Affairs Secretary Nidhi Khare told reporters.

government is t against coaching centres but quality of vertisements should t undermine consumer rights, she said.

Under new guidelines, coaching centres are prohibited from making false claims regarding courses offered and duration; faculty credentials; fee structure and refund policies; selection rates and exam rankings; and guaranteed job security or salary increases.

guidelines define 'coaching' to include acemic support, education, guidance, study programmes and tuition, but exclude counselling, sports and creative activities.

Coaching centres cant use names, photographs or testimonials of successful candidates without written consent obtained after selection. y must display disclaimers prominently and disclose important information about courses.

"Many UPSC students clear prelims and mains on ir own and take only interview guidance from coaching centres," Khare said, vising prospective students to verify what courses successful candidates were actually enrolled in.

guidelines, titled 'Prevention of Misleing vertisement in Coaching Sector', cover all forms of vertising across acemic support, education, guidance and tuition services. However, y exclude counselling, sports and creative activities.

Khare, who is also CCPA chief, said coaching centres should accurately represent service, facilities, resources and infrastructure. y should truthfully represent that courses offered are duly recognised and have approval of a competent authority such as AICTE, UCG, etc.

provisions are in dition to existing laws.

Violations will attract penalties under Consumer Protection Act, Khare ded.