Over the last week, at least eight FIITJEE (Forum for Indian Institute of Technology-Joint Entrance Examination) coaching centers in North India have suddenly shut shop, leaving behind a trail of despair among hundreds of students and parents just when vital board and entrance tests were looming large. According to officialdom, the shutdown followed a mass teacher exodus over unpaid salaries.
Closed FIITJEE locations in Delhi, Noida, Bhopal, Varanasi, Ghaziabad, Patna, and most recently Meerut can be found in big cities. The Meerut branch managers first tried to hire Noida teachers, but the setup only lasted a few days before the center had to shut down.
Upset over the sudden shutdown, parents have lodged police complaints against the private tutoring centre alleging that neither were they informed nor were they given a refund of their fees. The closed-down branches of the institute witnessed protests outside, as shown by videos and images from different places where parents and students express anger.
One parent whose child is enrolled at the Meerut center of FIITJEE says several FIITJEE centers in some states shut around six months ago. After that, they said that these centers would not close down and that we should pay the money. I have paid six lakh already; they have taken all the money and told us classes are going to go on. The parent added that the sudden shutdown really broke the children’s spirit even when the teachers had left.
Another parent who had paid only Rs 4 lakh in fee claimed, “A retiring FIITJEE teacher told us that most of the staff members are moving out as they haven’t been paid their wages for several months.
Reportedly, FIITJEE is facing a grave financial crisis aggravated by administrative and civic issues such as fire safety as well as licensing violations at some of its centres. The situation has worsened at a time when students prepare for the January Session-1 of the JEE Mains, entrance exam of IITs as well as other engineering colleges.
DK Goel, an IIT Delhi alumnus, began FIITJEE in 1992; the institute is famous for engineering entrance exam preparation, including JEE and NEET. The organization has gained much recognition in the competitive coaching market due to its 72 centers in 41 cities and over 300 employees.