Ministry Invites Public Suggestions on Draft Guidelines for Prevention of Coaching Sector's Misleading Advertisements

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), under Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, has sought public comments on Draft Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisement in Coaching Sector. Draft Guidelines are placed on the website of the Department of Consumer Affairs and are accessible through the link here. 

This comes in a month after Ministry of Education had issued guidelines for Coaching Centres in the country. The Ministry mandated coaching centers NOT to enroll student below 16 years of age or the student enrolment should be only after secondary school examination.

Public comments/ suggestions and feedback are solicited and may be provided to the Central Authority within 30 days (until 16th March 2024).

CCPA conducted a stakeholder’s consultation on Misleading Advertisement in Coaching Sector on 08th January 2024, which was attended by Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), Ministry of Education, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), National Law University (NLU) Delhi, FIITJEE, Khan Global Studies and Ikigai Law. In the meeting, there was a general consensus that Central Consumer Protection Authority should come with Guidelines for prevention of misleading advertisement in coaching sector.

The draft Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisement in Coaching Sector have been framed after detailed deliberations with all stakeholders including coaching institutes, law firms, Government and Voluntary Consumer Organizations (VCO’s) and are now being put up for public consultation. Proposed Guidelines shall be issued under section 18 (2) (l) of the Consumer Protection Act 2019.

The draft guidelines define “Coaching” as tuition, instructions or academic support or learning programme or guidance provided by any person. Under the Guidelines, conditions for misleading advertisement have been laid out. Any person who engage in coaching shall be considered to be engage in a misleading advertisement if it employs any of the following practices –

• Conceal important information related to name of the course (whether free or paid) & duration of course opted by successful candidate or any other important information which can influence a consumer's decision to choose their services.
• Make false claims regarding success rates, number of selections, or rankings of students in any competitive exam without providing verifiable evidence.
• Falsely represent that students' success is solely attributable to the coaching, without acknowledging the individual efforts of the students. Clearly state the extent of the coaching involvement in their success.
• Create false sense of urgency or fear of missing out that may heighten anxieties amongst students, or parents.
• Any other practices that may mislead consumers or subvert consumer autonomy and choice.

Guidelines would be made applicable to every person engaged in coaching. The objective of the Guidelines is to protect consumers from misleading advertisements in coaching sector. Thus, the proposed Guidelines seek to prevent such misleading advertisements which effects consumers as a class. Misleading advertisement by coaching sector will be governed as per Consumer Protection Act, 2019 and the proposed guidelines will bring clarity to the stakeholders and protect consumer interests.

For more information on the new guidelines, visit the link below :

(https://consumeraffairs.nic.in/sites/default/files/file-uploads/latestnews/Public%20Comments%20Letter%202.pdf) 

Top Image – twitter.com/@Abhay__Pandey

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