Coaching centres in Maharashtra seek nod for online modules from premises

About 2 lakh staff in coaching centres have already lost their jobs due to COVID, says the Maharashtra Class Owners Association. Representation pic

As A coronavirus-triggered lockdown looms large, coaching classes in Maharashtra have sought permission to open their premises from where they conduct online lectures. The centres say they have the infrastructure for online teaching in their offices and closing down the facilities will effectively shut their business.

As per the Maharashtra Class Owners Association, the industry has already faced a loss of about R10,000 crore. Nearly 20,000 coaching classes have shut down in the last one year rendering around 2 lakh staff jobless. It says the fear surrounding the second wave has caused panic and will devastate this parallel education sector.

"Balance fees collection, new student enrollments and other revenue generating avenues have completely dried up amidst the lockdown in the last 12 months. However, our overheads like commercial rents, salaries to teachers, wages to other staffs, electricity and other overheads continue to pile up. Many of us are forced to shut down our operations. 30 to 40% of the Institutes are almost on the verge of shutting down. Many have already done it," reads a letter by the association to the government. The association says their efforts to resolve issues in the past have not been successful as no meeting has gone beyond assurance.

Other than seeking nod to keep their offices open during lockdown, the association has also demanded that they be allowed to function with SOPs, once the lockdown is lifted, just like other businesses.
The association has reasoned that the government comparing coaching classes with schools and colleges is wrong. "They are educational Trust, coaching classes are business communities paying income tax and GST and the only point common is students. Students have to compulsory take admissions for schools and colleges. So their revenue is not affected much. But in coaching classes students join for additional help and for offline lectures. Since many students are not comfortable with online lectures they don't join coaching classes which has reduced our revenue by 60-70% over last year," said Santosh Waskar, president of the class owners's association.