Coaching institutes in Nagpur finally allowed to reopen

Nagpur: It’s indeed going to be a ‘happy’ new year for coaching institutes in Nagpur, as civic authorities have finally given the go ahead for reopening. For some reason, officials had kept coaching institutes locked even as almost everything else in society was allowed to open.
Institutes had been appealing for months to both civic and state level officials and politicians, but to no avail.
In a major relief to all students, on Thursday civic commissioner Radhakrishnan B issued the order allowing coaching institutes to start functioning, along with water parks and agricultural colleges.
The order clearly states that anybody entering the coaching institute premises needs to be fully vaccinated. However, since those below 18 years of age are not eligible for vaccine, they are allowed entry. In other premises, their proof of age needs to be verified so that they are exempt from the mandatory vaccination requirement.
For coaching institutes, it’s a case of better late than never. Rajnikant Bondre, president of Association of Coaching Institutes (ACI), said, “It is really a big day for us that our institutes are being allowed to reopen. It’s been a very a long wait but still our students will now be able to get some practice before competitive exam season begins.”
As schools started reopening in a phased manner, coaching institutes too demanded the same yardstick for themselves. A coaching institute owner said, “We had a situation where these kids were allowed to visit school or college, restaurants, cinema halls, marriages etc but not coaching institutes. This disparity was devoid of logic and the worst part was that authorities were not even responding to us.”
For students and parents, this is the beginning of a new chapter. Rajesh Kale, a parent, said, “My son is preparing for JEE and they are currently doing everything in online mode. But for such a major competitive exam, one-to-one physical mode of learning is very much needed. From next month, the doubt clearing sessions will start at our institute and thankfully it will be in offline mode now.”