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Coaching as Compensation: What the Red Fort scheme reveals about school education
Free online coaching can widen access to competitive-exam preparation, but stronger school education is essential to reduce dependence on coaching.
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Free coaching can remove one of the biggest barriers to competitive-exam preparation: cost. The proposed nationwide network of free online coaching, announced from the Red Fort on August 15, 2026, could widen access for students who cannot afford established coaching programmes. The larger education question lies elsewhere. Why has an additional layer of coaching become so necessary for students preparing for some of the country’s most important examinations?
Nearly one in four school students in India is taking or has taken private coaching. The Comprehensive Modular Survey: Education 2025, conducted by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, puts the figure at 27% nationally, rising to 30.7% in urban areas and 25.5% in rural areas.
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Coaching has always supplemented classroom learning. Its growing importance points to a gap between the preparation students receive in school and what competitive examinations demand. Making coaching free can help close the access gap for many families, but the longer-term objective has to be stronger school education, where students develop the conceptual understanding, academic foundation and confidence needed to prepare effectively.
When coaching becomes part of the education journey
Coaching has always supplemented classroom learning. Its growing importance points to a gap between the preparation students receive in school and what competitive examinations demand. When a significant share of students turns to coaching alongside school, the issue is no longer only whether coaching is affordable. It is also whether students feel adequately prepared without it. Coaching should add to the foundation built in school, rather than compensate for weaknesses in conceptual learning, teacher support or assessment.
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India already has a large coaching ecosystem, while online learning has made preparation more accessible beyond traditional coaching hubs, particularly since the pandemic. Public intervention can make the greatest difference where existing options still fail to reach students because of cost, geography or limited access to quality instruction.
Access is only the first measure of success
The proposed network aims to combine digital public infrastructure with teachers and educational talent. Reaching a large number of students will matter, but scale alone cannot determine its educational value. Consistent teaching, relevant content, student engagement and measurable learning outcomes will determine whether online access translates into meaningful preparation.
A free coaching network can serve an important short-term purpose without becoming the permanent answer to coaching dependence. If excessive reliance on coaching is itself a concern, the longer-term objective has to be reducing that dependence. Stronger schools, better conceptual foundations and greater academic confidence should allow more students to approach competitive examinations with less reliance on a second education system.
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Free online coaching can provide a valuable bridge for students who need additional preparation today. Its larger success will be visible when the quality of school education makes that additional layer increasingly supplementary rather than essential. The goal should not simply be to make coaching available to more students, but to ensure that every student has a strong enough educational foundation to decide when, where and how additional preparation adds value.
(This article is written by Avinash Agarwal, Director, Disha Publication)
