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When a coaching centre shuts mid-session, you lose money already paid and months of classes at once. In January 2025 several FIITJEE centres in Noida, Ghaziabad and Delhi closed abruptly, and parents' complaint led to a police FIR, Careers360 reported.
What should you do first when a coaching centre shuts suddenly?
Collect evidence before the group chat goes quiet and the website goes offline. Build one folder, on paper and on your phone:
Fee receipts and bank, UPI or card statements for every payment.
The admission form, prospectus and any written refund policy.
Screenshots of the course page showing duration and fees.
The timetable and attendance record showing the last class held.
Closure messages, emails or notices, with dates visible.
Loan or EMI papers, and hostel and mess receipts, if any.
The Ministry of Education's Guidelines for Registration and Regulation of Coaching Center 2024 say fee receipts must be made available and the prospectus must state course duration, fees and refund policy. No receipt? Ask for one now, in writing.
How much of the fee can you claim back?
Claim the part of the course you did not get. Under the Ministry of Education's 2024 guidelines, a student who paid in full and leaves mid-course should get a pro-rata refund for the remaining period within 10 days, including hostel and mess fees. That clause is written for a student who leaves; when the centre stops teaching, it is a fair minimum to ask for. These are model guidelines for states to adopt through their own laws, so the exact rules depend on your state.
A worked example: you paid ₹1,20,000 for a 12-month course and classes stopped after 5 months. That is ₹10,000 a month, so the 7 unserved months come to ₹70,000, plus unused hostel and mess fees.
How do you file a complaint on the National Consumer Helpline?
The National Consumer Helpline takes grievances on toll-free 1915 (8 am to 8 pm), by WhatsApp or SMS on 8800001915, on its website, and through the NCH or UMANG app, in 17 languages. It forwards your grievance to the company and lets you track the reply. It works at the pre-litigation stage, before any case reaches a court or commission.
In February 2025 the Department of Consumer Affairs said NCH had helped more than 600 students recover ₹1.56 crore from coaching centres, including for late classes and cancelled courses (PIB).
What to write:
"I enrolled [name] in [course] at [centre, branch] on [date] and paid ₹[amount] in full."
"Classes stopped on [date]; [X] of [Y] months were taught."
"My refund request of [date] got [no reply / this reply]."
"I request ₹[amount] for the unserved period plus ₹[amount] in hostel and mess fees."
"Attached: receipts, prospectus, closure notice, my email."
Note the docket number.
When should you go to the consumer commission?
If the helpline does not settle it, go to the consumer commission. You can file online on e-Jagriti, launched on 1 January 2025, which brings together older systems including e-Daakhil (PIB, November 2025). From the Department of Consumer Affairs:
A District Commission hears complaints where the amount paid is up to ₹50 lakh.
No filing fee is charged there for amounts up to ₹5 lakh.
You can file where you live or work, not only where the centre is.
Commissions should try to decide within three months of notice to the other side.
File within two years of the cause of action, under Section 69 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, unless the commission accepts a sufficient cause for delay. If you believe the owners took fees knowing they would close, a police complaint is a separate route, as the FIITJEE parents' FIR showed.
How do you keep your child's preparation going?
Refunds take weeks; the exam date does not move. A plan for the first fortnight:
Days 1-2: list chapters taught and chapters left, using the old timetable and notebooks.
Days 3-7: revise the latest chapters while notes are fresh, and take one timed mock. The Ministry of Education's guidelines note that NTA launched the National Test Abhyas app for free online mock tests for JEE Main and NEET-UG.
Week 2: choose a new batch, online classes or self-study before paying anyone. First, read the coaching fee refund policy before you pay, and weigh whether to switch coaching institutes midway.
Every day: keep the old study hours. Here is how to help your teen plan a full self-study day.
For chapters the centre never reached, the Fermi Concept Library gives each concept in physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics its own lesson, and the Fermi Problem Library has worked problems with a step-by-step solver that explains the reasoning.
A sudden closure can shake a teenager. If your child seems low or anxious for weeks, talk to a doctor or call Tele MANAS on 14416, the government's toll-free, 24x7 mental health helpline.
Start the evidence folder today; every later step depends on it.
