Vikas Divyakirti emphasizes the need for regulatory clarity and enhanced safety measures for Delhi’s coaching institutes following a tragic incident.
The tragic deaths of three civil service aspirants in a coaching center in Delhi’s Old Rajinder Nagar has once again raised questions regarding safety standards at such institutes in the national capital. This case opened an avenue for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to further crack down on several coaching centers, including the famed Drishti IAS. Vikas Divyakirti, the owner of Drishti IAS and a much-admired figure in the UPSC preparation community, has now come out on the multi-dimensional issues surrounding the crisis.
Drishti Vikas’s emotional social media post condoled the deaths of the three aspirants—Shreya Yadav, Tanya Soni, and Nevin Dalwin—to their families. His message expressed deep sorrow and a sense of commitment toward tackling the deeper issues that culminated in this tragedy. “We censure the three students’ awful and untimely passings. We submissively honor the three candidates and ask God to allow their families the quality to bargain with this reprehensible misfortune,” the message expressed.
The anger and frustration among the students, Divyakirti said, was fully justified. He, meanwhile, underscored the need for channeling this anger constructively and advocated comprehensive guidelines to ensure the safety of students in coaching centers. “The anger of the students is fully justified. It would be good if this anger was channeled in the right direction and the government laid down guidelines for coaching centers. We are ready to assist the government in this regard,” he said.
He pointed out that the regulatory framework governing the coaching institutes is full of inconsistencies and contradictions, making compliance complicated and muddled for enforcement to ensure safety in the coaching institutes. “This issue related to coaching establishment isn’t as straightforward because it shows up on the surface. It has numerous perspectives that are connected to the equivocalness and inconsistency of the laws,” Divyakirti famously said.
One of the key issues is the lack of clear provisions relating to coaching institutes in the regulatory documents except the ‘Delhi Master Plan-2021’. Divyakirti said he hoped that these regulatory gaps would be addressed by the committee appointed by the Union Home Ministry in its forthcoming report. “There’s no arrangement for coaching or organizing in any record but ‘Delhi Ace Plan-2021’. Clear arrangements have not been given. It is trusted that when the committee named by the Union Domestic Service submits its report in a month, most of the above-mentioned focuses will be settled in it,” he stated.
Fearing safety issues, Drishti IAS has engaged a Fire and Safety Officer and regularly undertaken safety audits. “”By and by, our administration features the uncommon post of ‘Fire and Safety Officer’ on which the officer working may be a graduate from National Fire Benefit College Nagpur and he has been working for the last 14 years in big hospitals and malls. Along with this, an officer is assigned to each building who checks the safety of 16 buildings daily,” Divyakirti asserted.
While conceding the fact that these were, after all, band-aid solutions, Divyakirti argued that real reform needed to occur at a deeper, systemic level: that coaching schools should have areas zoned by the government in Delhi, with appropriate infrastructure such as classrooms, libraries, and hostels provided. He suggested, “Permanent solution to this problem is that the government itself should select three areas in Delhi and demarcate them for coaching institutes. In the event that the government itself plans classrooms, libraries, and lodgings, at that point there will be no issue of tall lease or security of the arrangements relating thereto.”
Divyakirti also spoke of the feeling of being a scapegoat amidst the crackdown. He says it makes things easy for the administration; they think they are safe. “Let that one person suffer, and even society feels that they have got the accused,” he said.
He reflected on why he had not responded earlier in public, saying he was an introverted person. The incident has shaken him up, personalising the ordeal the students must have gone through. “I am not that vocal about emotional issues. Three students met a painful death. For the final three days, at whatever point we have a conversation at home or I go to rest, a picture comes to mind of what those children must have gone through when the water was filled inside,” he shared.
In a meeting with Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena, Divyakirti has discussed, accompanied by other owners of the institutes and students, the way forward based on collaborative ways to find sustainable solutions so that such tragedies do not recur. The engagement of various stakeholders in this exercise, including top officials from the Delhi government, DDA, MCD, and the fire department, signals a concerted effort to address safety concerns comprehensively.
In the final analysis, this tragic incident underlines the requirement for imperative regulatory clarity and enhanced safety measures in coaching institutes within Delhi. Vikas Divyakirti’s call for systematic reforms and his proactive stance on student safety provide hope to chalk out the surest ways toward averting future tragedies and ensuring a secure learning environment for all aspirants.