Lucknow Coaching Fire: Many Die Again as Teachers Fail to Learn a Lesson
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Lucknow fire tragedy revives questions over coaching centre safety. The incident highlighted repeated administrative failures despite regulations.
By Pranjal Gupta
New Delhi, June 22: The Lucknow coaching centre fire claimed at least 15 lives and shattered the dreams cherished by parents, families and well-wishers of young students aspiring to secure government jobs and contribute to nation-building. The incident is a stark reminder that we have failed to learn lessons from the past and continue to adjust to the torn-out conditions that many coaching centres offer students. The indifference of authorities has only prolonged this unending saga.
The rapidly mushrooming private coaching centres in India neither guarantee quality education nor ensure the safety of the students attending them. Across the country, institutes are being run in rooms far smaller than the number of students they accommodate. Many lack proper ventilation, adequate lighting and even the mandatory clearances required to operate a coaching institute.
Store Room-Turned-Library
In July 2024, three students preparing for the IAS examination were studying in a basement library at Rau's IAS Study Circle in Old Rajinder Nagar, New Delhi. Heavy rainfall triggered sudden flooding in the basement.
While some students managed to escape, three IAS aspirants drowned. The subsequent investigation revealed that the coaching centre had permission to use the basement only as a storeroom, not as a library.
At Least 250 Students Were Inside
A similar incident occurred in Delhi's Mukherjee Nagar in 2023, where a fire left 61 students injured. Most suffered minor burns, cuts and smoke inhalation injuries. However, two students sustained critical injuries, including severe head trauma and fractures, after falling while trying to escape.
At around noon, the fire broke out in electricity meters and an air-conditioning unit installed on the ground floor of a four-storey commercial building.
The building was heavily congested, housing multiple coaching centres, commercial offices and a library. Between 200 and 250 students were reportedly inside at the time. As the fire started on the ground floor, thick toxic smoke quickly spread upwards, completely blocking the building's only narrow staircase.
Wooden Stairs, Only Exit, Burned Down
Another devastating incident occurred in Surat, Gujarat, in 2019, where a coaching centre was operating from a makeshift facility on the fourth floor of a commercial building. When a fire broke out, it destroyed the only wooden staircase serving as an exit, trapping students on the terrace and claiming their lives.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) took suo motu cognisance of the incident and later held the state government largely accountable for the grave violations that had occurred.
Questions Raised in Parliament
It is not as though these incidents have gone unnoticed. In fact, the issue of private coaching centres risking students' lives has been raised in Parliament. In a written question, senior Congress leader Rajeev Shukla sought details of the Ministry of Education's measures against coaching centres operating without proper regulation of education quality, infrastructure and fees.
Responding to the query, Minister of State for Education Sukanta Majumdar said that a legal framework already exists for coaching centres. "Instances of such centres charging exorbitant fees from students; loss of precious lives due to fire and other accidents; and many other malpractices being adopted by these centres, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education (MoE) has circulated Guidelines for Regulation of Coaching Centres to States/UTs on 16.01.2024 for consideration and taking further action by way of an appropriate legal framework," the minister said in his written reply.
However, the recurring incidents claiming students' lives make one thing painfully clear: neither coaching centres nor the administration appear willing to follow the framework that already exists.
