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At least eight FIITJEE (Forum For Indian Institute of Technology-Joint Entrance Examination) coaching centers across North India have abruptly shut over the past week, leaving hundreds of students and parents fuming ahead of board and entrance examinations. The closure came after several teachers at the institute quit en masse due to unpaid salaries, officials said.
The FIITJEE coaching centers in Noida, Ghaziabad, Bhopal, Varanasi, Delhi, and Patna have shut down. A center in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut was the latest to close recently. According to officials, the center's administration initially tried to arrange for teachers from Noida, but that lasted only for a couple of days. Following this, they had to shut down the institute.
Many parents have filed police complaints, alleging that the private coaching institution did not give them any notice or their refunds. Several pictures and videos showed the parents protesting outside the institute's now-shut branches.
"Several FIITJEE coaching institutes were shut around six months ago in some states...After that, they told us that these centers would not shut down and that we should make the payments. I have invested Rs 6 lakh already...they took everyone's money and told us that classes would go on. Even when the teachers left, they said we would still manage," a parent of a student studying at the FIITJEE institute in Meerut said.
Demanding a solution, he said that the students' moral support has become weak.
Another parent who had recently deposited a Rs 4 lakh fee, said, "An outgoing FIITJEE teacher told us that most faculty members are leaving as they have not been paid salaries for several months."
FIITJEE has been going through a crisis amid speculation over the institute's financial crisis and troubles due to fresh administrative and civic action against its branches for violating licensing and fire safety rules. The brewing crisis has precipitated just after the end of the academic session for students appearing on January 22, 23 and 24 Session-1 of JEE Mains - the entrance exam for engineering colleges and preliminary test for IIT admission.
Founded in 1992 by DK Goel - a mechanical engineering graduate from IIT Delhi - the coaching institute offers special training for engineering entrance exams and NEET entrance coaching. FIITJEE reportedly has 72 centers across 41 cities. They have over 300 employees.