Central Consumer Protection Authority publishes Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisement in Coaching Sector, 2024

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (“CCPA”) has recently notified the Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisement in Coaching Sector, 2024 (“Guidelines”). The CCPA has introduced these guidelines since there has been a rise in coaching institutes making false or misleading advertisements to promote the sale of goods or services and engage in deceptive or unfair trade practices to mislead consumers. 

Scope of applicability of the guidelines 

Interestingly, the CCPA has kept the ambit of applicability of these guidelines extremely wide by ensuring that it’s applicable on all forms of advertisements by any person (including an endorser) engaged in coaching sector. 

The guidelines provide for a non-exhaustive definition of the term ‘coaching’. The guidelines mention that coaching includes academic support, imparting education, guidance, instructions, study programme or tuition or any other activity of similar nature. However, surprisingly, despite the definition being non-exhaustive in nature, it specifically excludes counselling, sports, dance, theatre and other creative activities from the scope of ‘coaching’ (and accordingly from the applicability of these Guidelines). The rationale behind this exclusion is not clear since there could be instances where a sports or a dance academy might falsely represent about their students’ achievements; it remains unclear on why such institutes should be treated differently. 

The guidelines also define the term ‘Coaching Center’ as including a center, established, run, or administered by any person(s) for providing coaching to more than fifty students. Again, the guidelines don’t provide a rationale for placing the threshold at a relatively higher figure of 50 students. Further, the guidelines leave ambiguity as regards the calculation of the threshold of 50 students since it doesn’t clarify whether the intake of 50 students needs to be in one batch/academic year or whether the threshold is crossed as soon as there are more than 50 students in total enrolled with the institute.

Conditions for Misleading Advertisements:

As per the guidelines, if any of the following elements are found in an advertisement, it will be deemed to be a misleading advertisement: 

• makes false claims regarding course(s) offered, duration of completion, credential of faculty, fee, course exit policy including fee-refund;  
• makes false claims regarding number of selection, rank in exam or success rate;  
• make false claims such as guaranteed selection, job security, job promotions, salary increase, success at different stages of an examination, admission to any institution or lead the consumer to believe that enrolment in coaching will ensure a good rank, high marks;  
• falsely represents that the services are of a particular standard or quality;  
• creates a false sense of urgency including falsely stating or implying the sense of urgency or scarcity showing false popularity of goods or services so as to mislead a person into making an immediate purchase or require taking an immediate action;  
• engages in any other unfair trade practice or misleading advertisement. 

Obligations of every person engaged in coaching 

The guidelines also prescribe some obligations on persons who create advertisements as regards the coaching being provided by them. The person should ensure that such advertisement should: 

• disclose important information such as rank secured, name and duration of course, whether such course is paid with the candidate’s photograph;  
• display disclaimer and any other important information prominently. The font of disclaimer and important information in the advertisement shall be the same as that used in the claim;  
• accurately represent the service, facilities, resources and infrastructure of the coaching center;  
• truthfully represent, if applicable, that the course(s) offered are duly recognised and have the approval of a competent authority such as All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), University Grants Commission (UGC), etc.  
• maintain transparency in making an advertisement;  
• every coaching center shall endeavour on a best effort basis to become a partner in the convergence process of the National Consumer Helpline of the Central Government. 

In addition to the aforementioned obligations, the Guidelines also mention that any person who is engaged in coaching shall not use name, photographs, testimonial or videos of successful candidate in an advertisement without candidate’s written consent. Further, such consent shall be taken subsequent to the selection of the candidate in the relevant academic institute. 

Conclusion:

The regulation of advertisements for coaching institutes in India is crucial to ensure transparency, fairness, and the protection of students' interests. With the increasing competition in the education sector, many coaching institutes employ aggressive marketing strategies that often make exaggerated claims about guaranteed success, misrepresent their success rates, or provide incomplete information about their courses. This can mislead students and parents into making uninformed decisions, sometimes leading to financial strain or wasted time.  

A well-regulated advertising framework (the beginning of which has been made with introduction of these Guidelines) would help set clear standards for transparency in marketing, prevent deceptive practices, and ensure that students have access to reliable and accurate information. Additionally, regulation could also help maintain the quality of education by ensuring that only institutes with proven track records of success are allowed to advertise their services broadly, thereby fostering healthy competition and accountability in the industry.