The Delhi Government will offer free online classes of CUET and NEET to 1.63 Lakhs Students

The Delhi government signed an MoU on Thursday with BIG Institute, a joint entity of the National Skill Development Corporation International and ed-tech firm PhysicsWallah, to provide free online coaching for 30 days to over 1.63 lakh students preparing for NEET and CUET examinations.

NEET UG is the compulsory entry test for undergraduate medical education in every medical school, while CUET is a national university-level entrance examination for a multitude of academic programs at undergraduate, master's, and doctorate levels.

Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said, "This Memorandum of Understanding has been executed in order to give special free online tutorials to students to prepare for NEET-2025 and CUET (UG)-2025 so that they can gain admission in medical colleges and central universities."

It has been dubbed a "landmark initiative" by the Education Minister, Ashish Sood.  In this academic session, free online tutoring consisting of six hours of study material daily will be made available in the subjects of English, physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and general aptitude from April 2 until May 2.  Doubt classes and tests, along with PDF notes, are also mentioned there.

As per Prateek Maheshwari, co-founder of PhysicsWallah, "Many brilliant students lose out on opportunities because they cannot get coaching for competitive exams.  Irrespective of their economic status, this program will help several students get the right resources and guidance.

"Education commercialization"

Several teachers indicated that the "mushrooming of coaching centers" would be the consequence of the CUET's compulsorily admitting students to central institutions.  To address the issue of concern, M Jagadesh Kumar, the Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC), affirmed that students would "not require private coaching" for passing the CUET.

The Memorandum of Understanding's signature, says Abha Dev Habib, Associate Professor of Physics at Delhi University's Miranda House, proves that "centralised examinations cannot be cracked without coaching."  And even while it may look like a pro-student gesture, one hopes that the funding for the public schools is not being cut. It's important to know if this would lead to outsourcing and the diversion of public funds to private firms," she said.