Coaching Centers in India are an industry on their own. Ask a parent and you would know how costly private tuitions are. Although it has been almost six months since the GST was rolled out by the PM Narendra Modi led central government. But Coaching institutes in Srinagar are at loggerheads with the centre over the obscurity of the GST Tax imposed on them.
The Coaching Centers Association demanded that the government should elucidate why they should facilitate free tuitions for orphan or below poverty line children and still pay GST for these students.
Junaid Yousuf, President of Coaching Centers Association, said “Coaching does not come under the Right to Education Act, unlike schooling which is a basic right of every individual. Show us one industry in India that pays GST and also provides free service.”
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Every coaching institute has to reserve 10% of its seats for orphans, BPL, and destitute students. And the Association claimed that this was done as per guideline from the beginning of the session.Students were enrolled on time and all reserved seats were filled up. However, The Directorate of School Education, on December 26 passed an order whereby the students who were eligible for free education were enlisted at various coaching Institutes.
Latif Masoodi, General Secretary of Coaching Centers Association said that as a result of the Directorate of School Education order, the coaching institutes had to give up 20% of their seats for free. But despite this unplanned order of The Directorate of School Education, the major point of concern for the Coaching Centres is that each one of them has to also pay GST for these 20% children.
Yousuf said “How can we pay GST of the students whom we do not charge a single penny? Is this justice?”
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Masoodi also confirmed that as per the guidelines of the committee set up under the directive order of High Court, all coaching institutes would strictly adhere to the student-teacher ratio of 150: 1.
Coaching Centers Association also requested Directorate of School Education to increase the time period of registration from 1 to 3 years. The request was made in light of the fact that some institutes use it as a loophole by changing their names and locations every year. The association requested that such institutes (Unregistered as Well as Frequent Name Changers) should be dealt with an iron hand.
It would be now very interesting to see how the GST council reverts to the requests of the Coaching centres. Whether there would be a tax imposed for free service as or will education for the orphans, BPL, and destitute students be truly free?