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FORTNIGHTLY QUIZ-173

Teaching shops or cheating shops?

BELIEVING the claims of a reputed government institute, my friends and I enrolled for a diploma in computer hardware maintenance. However, even after repeated complaints to the Director, my batch-mates and I are totally frustrated, as we have lost one full year. There is no full-time faculty and leave aside practical training, no theory classes have been held in the past two months. What should we do?

This is just one of several such letters I have been receiving from readers of my columns. And the sooner we take these unscrupulous teaching shops to task, the better. What gives them the right to play with students’ lives and money so recklessly?

Can any action be taken against such erring institutions?

Most certainly. Here’s a comprehensive action plan for anyone who has been unwittingly caught in this predicament.

If the institution refuses to heed your complaints, try writing to the "grievance columns" of influential newspapers in your city which may shame the authorities to redress matters. After all, educational institutes depend on word-of-mouth publicity for their survival, so a bad press is the last thing they’d want.

An educational institution is obliged to provide all facilities for proper completion of the course that you have paid for. This is a "service" which the institute is duty-bound to provide as defined under the Consumer Protection Act. As they have reneged on their commitment, this constitutes negligence or "deficiency of service" and "unfair trade practice" under the Act.

You can therefore take this matter to the consumer court under whose jurisdiction the institute is located. There is a District Consumer Forum in every district where you can file your complaint directly if the value of services and compensation claimed does not exceed Rs 5 lakh. In metros and big cities there is more than one District forum. For instance, Delhi has seven such consumer grievance redressal fora located in different parts of the capital.

However, if you and your batchmates decide to file a joint complaint where the compensation claim is in the range of Rs 5 to 20 lakh, you will have to do so in the state commission (there is one in each state). And if the relief sought exceeds Rs 20 lakh, the complaint must be filed with the national commission in Delhi.

Complaints regarding self-finance courses run by universities/colleges and paid seats in medical and engineering colleges also fall within the purview of the Consumer Protection Act.

Not long ago the Delhi Consumer Forum took a flying school severely to task for defrauding students by promising them training for PPL and CPL licences when it was not even recognised by the DGCA. Not only were they directed to refund all fee to the students but also to bear the litigation costs.

Similarly, a giant in computer education that was charged with extending the duration of its course, delaying the exams, withholding results and not issuing the necessary certificates was ordered to pay a hefty compensation to each of the aggrieved students who filed a complaint in the consumer forum. Similarly, in a landmark order, the NDRC ordered a medical college in Bihar to refund over Rs 6 lakh with 12 per cent annual interest to 12 students who had lost two years in the unrecognised institution.

However, consumer courts are over-burdened with a backlog of complaints that could take a long while to come up for hearing. You must therefore request that the case is taken up on a priority basis, or else a delayed verdict would prove infructuous.

If you are facing a blank wall despite making written complaints to the government authorities concerned i.e. Kendriya Vidyalayas, the CBSE, NOS, the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti or central universities under the Directorate of Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, you can approach the Directorate of Public Grievances, Cabinet Secretariat, Sardar Patel Bhavan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi - 110001 (www.dpg. bharatsarkar. nic.in). You don’t need to hire an advocate or lawyer or pay any fee or charges. Simply write/fax or log your complaint on their website.

You and your classmates can also file a writ in the high court. If the writ is admitted, the case will be taken up on a priority basis. However, this will involve hiring a lawyer and paying the necessary court fee. This measure should be considered as the last resort, and only if the matter is serious enough.

The UGC also has a Malpractice Cell where you can lodge complaints regarding errant institutions that come within its purview. Incidentally, with a view to regulating the spate of foreign universities setting up shop in India, the UGC has formulated a set of regulations. It is high time they are asked to furnish information regarding the quality of programmes and degrees they offer, their status within their own country, details of their collaborating partners in India and fee structure. Today, it’s a free-for-all situation where students are being lured with fancy promises, and glossy brochures and "orientation" seminars in five star hotels.

Similarly, branding them as "commercial ventures", the UGC is cracking the whip on the so-called "study centres" of universities offering courses through distance learning. In the name of "collaboration", universities strike moneymaking deals with franchisees who are mainly private enterprises with no connection to the university.

Unless the conditions outlined by the Distance Education Council and the UGC are complied with, the degrees offered by these universities will be de-recognised.

Presently, courses ranging from BSc (Internet Sciences), BSc (Information Systems) and Bachelors in Computer Applications and Mgt to MSc (IT), Masters in e-commerce and a wide array of PG diplomas, mainly technical, are being trotted out left, right and centre.

Even earlier, the UGC had written to the errant universities clearly insisting that these courses could only be conducted through the university’s own department or through its constituent colleges and/or affiliated institutions.

In case the course happens to be AICTE approved, then you should also bring the matter to their notice. Incidentally, the AICTE forbids the use of the word "Indian" and/or "National" and/or All India" and/or "All India Council and/or " Commission" in any part of the name of a technical institution and/or any name whose abbreviated form reads as IIM, IIT, IISC, IIIT, AICTE, UGC. Institutions using such names have been asked to change their names within a month or else face withdrawal of AICTE approval. Similarly, all institutions functioning in temporary location have been asked to shift to permanent sites with proper building and infrastructure by March-end ‘03, or else face closure for the next academic year.

And while we are at it, a word of advice: Avoid paying the full amount of fee up-front. Opt for an instalment plan instead and pay as small an amount at the outset as possible. That way, should the institute fail to deliver the goods or worse still, close down all together as has happened with several computer institutes, you will be able to cut your losses with the least damage.

And do thoroughly check the credentials of the institute, in the first place - before you commit your precious time and money. Make it a point to talk to the students. Whatever an institute may officially claim, the students of the institute know what the ‘inside’ story is. So do try and separately chat up with as many students of the institute as you can. Ask them about the quality of teaching and training and whether outgoing students are getting the kind of jobs you are interested in. Also, ask the students enrolled in these institutes the same questions you asked the institute officials. Do the official and student answers tally? Or, is there a lot of contradiction?

Beware of institutes that issue full-page ads in leading dailies, hire attractive counsellors to con new entrants, collect huge sums from franchisees and fat course fee from students. After they have made a neat profit, they just vamoos! A case in point being Wintech and Zap Infotech who cadged huge sums as franchise and course fee before doing the disappearing act.

As they say, it’s always better to be safe than sorry!

Pervin Malhotra