Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced free online coaching for competitive exams and AI training for millions of young Indians, aiming to address rising concerns over exam leaks and job shortages while promoting India’s growth ambitions.
Narendra Modi has promised free online coaching for competitive examinations and new training in artificial intelligence for young Indians, using his Independence Day address to recast his government’s response to a deepening crisis over jobs and education. Speaking at the Red Fort in New Delhi, the Indian prime minister said the coaching plan would reduce the financial strain on middle-class families and allow students to prepare from home rather than pay for expensive classroom courses.
The pledge comes after months of anger among students and jobseekers over leaked examination papers and recruitment irregularities. India Today reported that in Gujarat alone at least 11 government recruitment tests were compromised between 2014 and 2024, leaving vacancies unfilled and fuelling frustration among hundreds of thousands of applicants. The scale of the problem has also drawn political fire, with opposition leaders accusing the government of failing to protect the integrity of the system.
Modi also said 10 million young people would receive AI training over the next year, part of a broader pitch to a generation that has been among the loudest critics of exam corruption and weak job creation. In the same speech, he outlined plans for more semiconductor plants, additional nuclear reactors and a long-term growth agenda stretching to 2047, when India marks 100 years of independence. The programme is intended to present the country as a manufacturing and technology power as well as a destination for skilled labour.
At the same time, Modi used the address to revive a hard-line warning against what he called “intellectual Naxals”, a phrase that echoed earlier accusations from his Bharatiya Janata Party against critics on the left, including activists, academics and journalists. The comments underscored the political tension surrounding youth unrest: while the government is offering training and exam support, it is also continuing to frame dissent as a security and ideological challenge. NDTV reported that Modi has previously described exam paper leaks as a “grave sin” and said no one would be allowed to damage the future of young people.
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