Government announces free online coaching via digital public infrastructure

Education is a Concurrent List subject under the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution. Both Parliament and state legislatures can legislate on it. This shared responsibility has historically produced coordination gaps and diffuse accountability, especially in the competitive-examination space. Article 21A, inserted by the 86th Constitutional Amendment, 2002, guarantees free and compulsory education to children aged six to fourteen. This right is operationalised through the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009. No equivalent fundamental right exists at the competitive-examination level. However, Article 16 guarantees equality of opportunity in public employment. That guarantee is weakened when the examination pathway itself is inaccessible to the poor.

India's competitive examination ecosystem has grown into a parallel education system. Millions of aspirants prepare for over 100 national-level exams, including NEET-UG, JEE Main, and UPSC Civil Services. The National Testing Agency (NTA), under the Ministry of Education, was created to centralise and standardise these high-stakes examinations. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 sought to shift learning toward competency-based outcomes and encouraged the creation of skill hubs. However, the high-stakes single-examination model has remained largely intact, sustaining a massive private coaching industry.

The government already operates digital education platforms such as SWAYAM and SAATHI. SWAYAM provides free online courses from school to postgraduate level. These platforms have not, however, displaced private coaching. Critics argue they are designed as content repositories, not as structured, assessment-driven learning environments that replicate what coaching centres actually deliver.