After three IAS aspirants lost their lives in a flooded basement at a coaching centre in Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar, Super 30 program founder Anand Kumar called for a ban on teaching in basements and asked for timely inspections of the area.
In an interview with news agency ANI, he was asked why students were forced to leave their home states and towns to come to Delhi to study, despite so much online content being available. Kumar said, "They can read. It's my prediction, which might be wrong. In the coming 10 to 15 years, 90 percent of these coaching institutes are going to disappear. I can say this from my experience."
"Now, only one percent of experiments have been done in the field of online classes. A syllabus for online classes with good quality content is yet to be prepared. If some dedicated group of teachers prepares such content, students can do online classes from their homes and will benefit much more than from offline classes," he said.
He further said, "Teaching in basements should be completely banned. The standards that should be in place for coaching centres regarding the area for students, entry and exit points, and other safety measures should be followed and inspected regularly. In case of any violation, strict action and fines should be imposed."
"I am very sad and stand with the students. What you are doing for your friends is very good, but work calmly and also focus on your studies. If you see something like this in the future, oppose it immediately. I request coaching centres to provide compensation to the victims quickly and ensure such mistakes are not repeated in the future," he added.
Meanwhile, MCD Commissioner Ashwani Kumar met a delegation of protesting students on Wednesday. A total of 28 students met the commissioner with their suggestions. The commissioner ordered:
- Surveys of buildings with basements
- Immediate action, including sealing, against those misusing basements
- Separate entry and exit gates for basements
The victims have been identified as Shreya Yadav, Tanya Soni, and Nivin Dalwin, from Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, and Kerala, respectively.
