New Delhi: The Congress on Friday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his announcement of free online coaching for competitive exam aspirants, saying it was an “accountability-evading gimmick” and alleging that the government has shown little capacity to implement such a scheme successfully.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had raised the issue of the growing coaching industry and its impact on the country’s public education system at the ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ event in Kota, Rajasthan on June 17.
“He had raised one of the most important issues in education today — that an extractive coaching industry has supplanted the public education system and that Indian families are now spending 2.5 times more on coaching centres than the government of India invests in education,” Ramesh said on X.
“It was this disclosure that forced the Prime Minister — in a desperate attempt to escape growing public pressure — to announce free online coaching for students on 15th August. But his government’s track record hardly inspires any confidence,” he said.
The existing Free Coaching scheme of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has been missing its target for three years, he pointed out.
The ministry was supposed to enrol 10,500 candidates for free coaching over three years, but has enrolled only 2,790 students, or just 26 per cent of the target, Ramesh said.
“The budget for this scheme has reduced every year and last year’s spending was less than half the budget. These startling facts have been revealed in the latest report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment tabled on August 10,2026,” the Congress leader said.
Rather than fundamentally fix India’s broken education system or re-invest in public education, the prime minister has decided to instead invest public resources in online coaching, he further said.
“It is an accountability-evading gimmick, and this government has already shown little capacity to implement this scheme successfully,” Ramesh said.
His remarks come days after Modi, in his August 15 address, announced free online coaching for aspirants preparing for competitive exams to ease the financial burden on their families and promised AI training for one crore youth.
“Coaching classes burden the poor and the middle class. We will provide free online coaching for various exams,” Modi had said in his address to the nation on India’s 80th Independence Day.
“Every parent feels that if they do not send their child to a coaching class, they are not a prestigious family,” he had said from Red Fort.
The prime minister had said he assures these families that they can save “thousands of crores of rupees” spent on coaching, be close to their children, and care for them.
“And therefore, we have decided to provide free online coaching for various examinations for the youth. We have digital public infrastructure; we have excellent talent and teachers. By bringing these resources together, we are going to build a complete network to provide free coaching to the youth of the country,” Modi had said.
