NEW DELHI: Congress MP Jairam Ramesh on Friday slammed the Centre over its recent digital education initiatives, alleging that the government was pushed into announcing free online coaching after Rahul Gandhi highlighted the rising burden of private coaching on Indian families.Ramesh questioned the Centre’s ability to implement such schemes, citing a parliamentary panel report that found the existing free coaching programme had achieved only 26 per cent of its enrolment target.
Ramesh targets Centre over free online coaching plan
In a post on X, Ramesh accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of attempting to deflect attention from deeper problems in India’s education system by turning to online coaching instead of strengthening public education.“Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi at the Chhatron ki Goonj event in Kota on June 17th 2026, 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 Govt of India invests in education.”Ramesh claimed that Rahul Gandhi’s disclosure was followed by the Prime Minister’s announcement of free online coaching for students on August 15.“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. Its existing Free Coaching scheme has been missing its target for 3 years,” he said.
Existing free coaching scheme misses target
Ramesh cited the latest report of the parliamentary standing committee of the ministry of social justice and empowerment, tabled on August 10, to question the government’s record on its existing free coaching scheme.“The Ministry of Social Justice was to enrol 10,500 candidates for free coaching over 3 years, but it has only enrolled 2,790 students – just 26% of the target. 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 Aug 10, 2026,” he wrote.The Congress leader argued that the government’s focus should be on fixing structural weaknesses in the education system rather than expanding digital coaching initiatives.“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. It is an accountability-evading gimmick, and this Government has already shown little capacity to implement this scheme successfully,” Jairam Ramesh wrote.
Rahul Gandhi’s student campaign
Ramesh’s criticism follows Rahul Gandhi’s wider campaign highlighting concerns faced by students, including rising education costs, examination irregularities, paper leaks, recruitment issues and unemployment.The Congress leader launched the ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ campaign in 2026 to bring student concerns into the national political discourse. The campaign has been held in Kota, Dehradun and Prayagraj, among other places.At a recent ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ programme in Maharashtra, Rahul also spoke about the role of women in India, describing them as the country’s biggest strength.“Women are the strength of India – its foundation, its present, and its future.”
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“You belong to no one but yourself. Be loud. Be proud. Fight for your space. Smash the patriarchy!” he said in a post on X.Addressing the programme, Rahul Gandhi said India’s greatest strength lay in the aspirations and potential of its women.“Many times, people ask me, ‘What is India’s biggest strength?’ You get many answers when you ask this question. Somebody will say our economy. Somebody will say our military. Somebody will say our medical system. Somebody might even say our people, but I am very clear on what is India’s biggest strength, our biggest asset, and that strength is 70 crore unique journeys, unique imaginations, unique dreams that the women of India are living,” he said.
