Bengaluru|New Delhi: Students, parents, coaching institutes and education experts are divided over the Centre’s new guidelines to regulate coaching centres in India, which came in the wake of an alarming rise in student suicides.

While some have welcomed them as a good start, others say they can deprive students of the support system they need to crack competitive exams. Some of the stakeholders also said the guidelines will be difficult to enforce and may even lead to unfair practices.

The new guidelines direct coaching centres, among various things, not to enrol students below 16, not make misleading promises, not charge exorbitant fees, ensure mental welfare of students and have an exit policy for those wanting to leave a course midway.

“The issue is genuine, and that the government is concerned about this is heartening-but measures suggested will be very difficult to enforce,” said Narayanan Ramaswamy, national leader (education and skill development) at KPMG in India. “The logic is that coaching centres have become like a factory; students are focusing almost exclusively on competitive exams. But how does that get solved by saying they can enrol only after they turn 16?”

The root cause of the problem needs to be addressed, he said. “We need to address this mad rush for the handful of elite institutions in engineering, medicine etc,” said Ramaswamy.