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Coaching classes face flak

Swati Kulkarni in Bombay

The Chate Classes controversy, which has acquired political overtones, has thrown up a debate on the methods used by private coaching classes to lure students.

Maharashtra's minister of state for school education Anil Deshmukh disclosed to rediff.com that he had asked the Income-Tax Commissioner B Mishra to probe the financial dealings of Chate Classes, Chate Publications and Devyani Movies, owned by Macchindra Chate. Government sources say the probe will find out how Chate managed to amass his huge fortune and who financed it.

Earlier, Deshmukh told newsmen that Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former deputy chief minister Gopinath Munde had a stake in Chate Classes, a claim challenged by Munde.

Deshmukh also wants the I-T department to probe the parents who send their children to these classes, which charge exorbitant fees. He said ordinary middle-class families could not afford fees of about Rs 40,000.

He said he had not received complaints against any other coaching class. "There have only been complaints against Chate. His modus operandi is simple. Offer Secondary School Certificate and Higher Secondary Certificate toppers financial allurements to say they owed their success to his class.''

He said the government was going to curb the menace of coaching classes. "We are drafting a new law, for which we are consulting educational experts. The new law will regulate the growth of coaching classes by getting them to register with the government.''

Efforts to contact Chate are being stonewalled by his public relations officer Shyam Sahare. Sahare said the boy in question, this year's state HSC topper Madan Nagargoje, had admitted to his association with the coaching class for two years.

Asked about the I-T probe, Sahare said: "Let them have a sales tax, excise tax or income tax probe. We are prepared."

Sahare said they had already commenced a legal battle to clear their name.

But what has got overshadowed in the controversy is the rise of many educational institutions that are being run by politicians. Proprietors of these institutions claim political patronage and immunity from any wrongdoing. It is ironical that politicians, who want education to be kept above politics, are themselves politicising it.

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