New Delhi: A day after edtech startup Physics Wallah announced its MoU with the government to provide quality education to SC and OBC aspirants, students from the General category are calling the move discriminatory towards EWS and the general category.
“Why are they providing the coaching classes to specific categories of students? There are students in the General categories who really can’t afford coaching classes, there are EWS category students who are needy people, but nothing is available for them,” said Vivek Mishra, UPSC aspirant studying in Karol Bagh.
Under this MoU, Physics Wallah Foundation will provide free online coaching to 5,000 aspirants every year belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Other Backward Classes and beneficiaries of the PM CARES for Children Scheme from all over India.
“The initiative aims to support candidates preparing for competitive examinations such as the Civil Services Examination, Staff Selection Commission Examination and Banking Examinations. No such Memorandum of Understanding has been signed by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs with any organisation in respect of Scheduled Tribe students,” said the government press release.
“The selection of beneficiaries is merit-based and is carried out through a dedicated online portal,” the press release added.
“The government says this is about inclusion, but exclusion is also happening. There are many general category students whose families earn very little but don’t get any institutional support. Coaching today costs lakhs, how are they expected to compete?” said Manoj Singh, an EWS category student studying in Mukherjee Nagar and preparing for SSC.
Another student said that the field is not equal.
“Competitive exams are already not equal for us because of coaching access. Schemes like this widen that gap further for those who don’t fall in reserved categories but still lack resources,” said Shweta Joshi, an SSC aspirant.
Apart from this, many state governments and communities, such as Muslims, Jains and Aggarwals, have provided free UPSC coaching services for aspirants from their own community. Almost every state government, including Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and West Bengal, runs coaching classes in association with coaching institutes.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)