Protest over death of UPSC aspirants
Recently on the fateful night of 27th July, three UPSC aspirants lost their lives in an incident where rainwater gushed inside the Basement of a coaching institute in old Rajendra Nagar. It was alleged that the students could not come out of the basement due to the failure of biometrics and there were no emergency gates available. The tragic incident raised various questions about the Authority of the institute and the Delhi Government. It has raised significant concerns about the safety standards and regulatory oversight of educational institutions operating in this area.
Mass protests by UPSC aspirants have attracted the attention of the media and the coaching institutes are being questioned on the issue of hefty fees being charged and still basic requirements not being provided to the aspirants. 10 Lakh ex gratia compensation has been announced by the LG of Delhi and the Centre has formed a probe panel to investigate the same. However, the question still remains will it solve the problem faced by aspirants preparing for various competitive exams?
Action by Municipal Corporation of Delhi
As three UPSC aspirants lost their lives in an incident in a coaching Institute at Rajendra Place, MCD has initiated various actions to avoid such tragic incidents in the future. A few of them are:
- They have comprehensively inspected various institutes and those institutes which did not follow the guidelines for coaching institutes have been sealed.
- Institutes are being forced to take all the certificates with regard to safety concerns from relevant authorities in order to run their institutes.
- It has also organized various awareness campaigns to educate students and parents about the importance of safety standards and to check whether the institutes in which they are studying are complying with the same or not.
- A new reporting system has been established for parents and students, which allows them to direct complaints to MCD in case of any violation by institutes.
Suggestion for a New Regulation
- It is being urgently demanded to make regulations to address the issues relating to coaching institutes. The regulation is expected to address the following:
- Institutes may be subjected to periodic audits to put check upon them if they are complying with all the safety protocols.
- The hefty amount charged by the institutes must be regulated to bring about parity.
- An upper limit must be capped for the number of students allowed to sit in a class.
- The infrastructure must be looked into if it has proper ventilation.
- The regulation should also focus on the mental health of the students.
It is also important to note that it is not the first time we have witnessed such kind of incidents. Last week itself a student preparing for UPSC died of electric shock due to inundation of rainwater at the gate. There are various other incidents of fire that took place in Mukherjee Nagar last year in coaching institutes. It’s high time to ensure the safety and well-being of the aspirants who are the future of tomorrow.
