Coaching institutions should be closed after 8 p.m.: MP minister

Madhya Pradesh School and Technical Education Minister Deepak Joshi on Monday said that the government would ensure the closing of the coaching centres by 8 p.m. to ward off any untoward incident.

Joshi's statement comes in the wake of last week's incident, where a civil services aspirant was allegedly gang-raped when she was returning home after attending her coaching class.

"We will try that the private educational and coaching centres don't function after 8 p.m. They will be responsible for the students' safety if they do function after 8 o'clock," Joshi told ANI.

He further said that they were trying to develop an app by which locations of students could be traced and he/she could be rescued in case of any untoward incident.

"We will also run an awareness drive to monitor if these platforms (coaching institutions) are being misused. To avoid such incidents, we should set a time limit for coaching institutions," he added.

On Thursday, the 19-year-old civil services aspirant was abducted by four men and allegedly gang-raped near the Habibganj Railway Station in Bhopal.

All the four accused have been arrested.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also took cognisance of the incident and directed a fast-track trial in the case.