शिक्षा मंत्रालय ने 12 अगस्त 2026 को राज्यसभा में बताया कि केंद्र सरकार की कोचिंग सेंटर गाइडलाइंस (16 जनवरी 2024) के बाद अब तक 11 राज्यों और केंद्रशासित प्रदेशों ने कोचिंग संस्थानों के लिए अपने नियम, गाइडलाइंस या कानून बना लिए हैं — इनमें राजस्थान, झारखंड, असम, हरियाणा, हिमाचल प्रदेश, त्रिपुरा, नागालैंड, आंध्र प्रदेश, तमिलनाडु, पुडुचेरी और अंडमान-निकोबार शामिल हैं।
केंद्र की गाइडलाइंस कहती हैं कि हर कोचिंग सेंटर की अपनी वेबसाइट होनी चाहिए, जिस पर टीचर्स की योग्यता, कोर्स की अवधि, ली जाने वाली फीस, फीस रिफंड पॉलिसी और आसान एग्जिट पॉलिसी साफ-साफ लिखी हो। बच्चों को प्रदर्शन के आधार पर अलग-अलग बैच में बांटना मना है, और शिकायत निवारण की व्यवस्था ज़रूरी है।
विज्ञापन पर भी नियम हैं: CCPA की 13 नवंबर 2024 की गाइडलाइंस के तहत कोचिंग सेंटर झूठे या भ्रामक दावे नहीं कर सकते, और किसी सफल छात्र का नाम, फोटो या वीडियो उसकी लिखित सहमति के बिना विज्ञापन में इस्तेमाल नहीं कर सकते।
अभिभावकों के लिए काम की बात: फीस देने से पहले सेंटर की वेबसाइट पर फीस और रिफंड पॉलिसी देखें, और सब कुछ लिखित में लें।
The Ministry of Education told the Rajya Sabha on 12 August 2026 that 11 states and union territories have now brought in their own rules, guidelines or laws to regulate private coaching centres, following the national Guidelines for Regulation of Coaching Center that the Centre circulated to all states and UTs on 16 January 2024. The reply also restated what those national guidelines require of every coaching centre: publish your fees, your refund policy and your tutors’ qualifications on your own website, run a working complaints system, and stop sorting students into batches by performance.
For a family paying coaching fees, that is the practical point. Fee terms and refund terms are not meant to be something you discover after you have paid. They are meant to be published in advance — and in a growing list of states they now sit behind a state law with penalties attached. Here is exactly what the government said, and what you can check before handing over money.
The key dates and facts
| What | Detail | Date |
|---|---|---|
| National guidelines circulated to states and UTs | Guidelines for Regulation of Coaching Center, Ministry of Education | 16 January 2024 |
| CCPA guidelines on misleading coaching advertisements | Issued under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 | 13 November 2024 |
| States and UTs with their own coaching rules or law | 11, ranging from Haryana (2024) to Andhra Pradesh (2026) | As stated in Parliament, 12 August 2026 |
| Who gave the reply | Minister of State for Education, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha | 12 August 2026 |
What the national coaching guidelines require a centre to do
The Ministry said the guidelines were framed against a specific backdrop: the growth in unregulated coaching centres, centres charging very high fees, lives lost in fires and other accidents, the mental well-being of students, and a range of malpractices. What the guidelines cover, in the Ministry’s own listing:
- The conditions and documents needed to register a coaching centre
- Matters relating to fees
- Infrastructure requirements for setting up a centre
- A code of conduct for coaching centres
- Emphasis on the mental well-being of students
- No segregation of students into separate batches
- Maintenance of records
- A grievance and complaint redressal mechanism
The guidelines also say a coaching centre must run a website carrying updated details of the qualifications of its tutors, the details and duration of its courses and curriculum, the fees being charged, an easy exit policy, its fee refund policy, the number of students taking coaching at the centre, and the number of students who finally succeeded in getting admission to higher education institutions.
That last pair matters more than it looks. A centre that advertises results is also expected to publish how many students it coached alongside how many actually got in. You can read the guidelines yourself on the Department of Higher Education page for the Guidelines for Regulation of Coaching Center, which hosts the original document in English and Hindi.
Which states and UTs now regulate coaching centres
Education sits on the Concurrent List, so the Centre issues guidelines and states legislate. These are the state and UT instruments the Ministry named in its reply, oldest first:
| State / UT | Instrument | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Haryana | Registration and Regulation of Private Coaching Institutes Act | 2024 |
| Rajasthan | Coaching Centres (Control and Regulation) Act | 2025 |
| Jharkhand | Coaching Centre (Control and Regulation) Act | 2025 |
| Assam | Coaching Institutes (Control and Regulation) Act | 2025 |
| Tripura | Guidelines for Registration and Regulation of Coaching Centres | 2025 |
| Nagaland | Guidelines for Registration and Regulation of Coaching Centres | 2025 |
| Andhra Pradesh | Coaching Institutions (Regulation and Control) Rules | 2026 |
| Himachal Pradesh | Private Coaching Centres (Registration and Regulation) Rules | 2026 |
| Tamil Nadu | Guidelines for Registration and Regulation of Coaching Centres | 2026 |
| Puducherry | Policy and Guidelines for Registration, Control and Regulation of Coaching Institutes | 2026 |
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands | Guidelines for Registration and Regulation of Coaching Centers | 2026 |
Two things follow from this list. If you are in one of these states, your coaching centre is answerable to a named state instrument, not only to a central advisory — so a complaint has somewhere to go. If your state is not on the list, the central guidelines still describe what good practice looks like, and the advertising rules below apply everywhere in the country.
What a coaching advertisement is not allowed to claim
Separately from the education guidelines, the Central Consumer Protection Authority issued guidelines on 13 November 2024 under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, aimed squarely at misleading advertising in the coaching sector. According to the Ministry’s reply, those guidelines:
- Prohibit false or misleading claims and advertisements used to promote coaching services
- Prohibit deceptive or unfair practices
- Bar the use of a successful candidate’s name, photograph, testimonial or video in an advertisement without that candidate’s written consent
- Regulate unfair contracts
- Carry penalties under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019
The Ministry added that the CCPA has imposed penalties on coaching institutes and directed them to discontinue misleading advertisements and unfair trade practices. In plain terms: the wall of topper photographs outside a coaching centre is not automatically legal, and a selection claim is not automatically true.
What to check before you pay coaching fees
Every item below comes straight from what the guidelines say a centre must publish or provide. None of it requires you to argue — you are only asking for what is already supposed to be on the table.
- Open the centre’s website first. Fees, the fee refund policy and the easy exit policy are all supposed to be listed there. If none of it exists online, that is itself informative.
- Get the fee and refund terms in writing before you pay, and keep the receipt. Ask specifically what happens to the balance if the student leaves mid-course.
- Check the tutors’ qualifications against what the website lists, especially if the enrolment pitch named particular teachers.
- Ask which state rule or Act the centre is registered under. If your state is in the table above, that registration should exist.
- Treat selection claims as claims. The guidelines expect the number of students coached to be published alongside the number who got admission. A percentage with no denominator is not a result.
- Find the grievance mechanism before you need it — the guidelines require one.
- Ask about batch allotment. The guidelines say students are not to be segregated into separate batches.
One safety note that applies to every education portal and centre: no genuine institution needs your exam login password or an OTP. Share documents, not credentials.
Coaching is a choice, not a requirement
The regulations exist because coaching has become a large, expensive and sometimes high-pressure industry — not because every student needs it. Plenty of routes out of Class 12 are decided by an exam you can prepare for from home with a syllabus and a schedule. The defence route is one: our explainer on NDA after Class 12, its exam date and eligibility, covers a national entrance most students sit without any coaching at all. Money is the other half of the question — scholarships such as the one described in the Azim Premji Scholarship 2026 guide, with its last date and document list, exist precisely so that ability to pay is not the deciding factor.
If a coaching decision is really a preparation decision, start with method rather than fees. Our guide to revising theory subjects for exams and the walkthrough on the entries you cannot undo when filling an online exam form both address the parts of exam season where students actually lose marks.
Where to check the official documents
- Guidelines for Regulation of Coaching Center, Department of Higher Education — the original document, in English and Hindi
- Ministry of Education reply in the Rajya Sabha on regulation of private coaching institutions, 12 August 2026 — the source of every figure on this page
- Ministry of Education official website — for later circulars and policy changes
For deadlines that are running right now — admission windows, board registrations, result dates — see our Important Dates calendar, and the Parent Zone collects the guides written for families rather than for students.
Always confirm on the official website before acting.