In 2020, every single country was hit by a wave of COVID a virus that spread all over the world, people dying, medicines unavailable in some parts, lockdowns, and much more. This pandemic made us closer to our families, our loved ones. But one thing that suffered the most was education.
Education is the only thing that keeps you updated on whatever is happening around the world. Many exams were cancelled, and everything went online. From new apps like Zoom and Google Meet coming into existence to a rise in YouTube videos and teachers who conduct and upload videos on YouTube for children to learn and prepare. When COVID hit India, every student connected more through mobile phones, tablets, and laptops. These devices made it easier for them to learn and prep for competitive exams like JEE and NEET. But is it the time of COVID where these online classes were hyped?
No, I still remember – when I was in class 10, and it was boards, whenever I used to get stuck in a topic or a problem of math, I used to open YouTube or Google, type the problem, and the answer was just in front of me from steps to end in the form of either a video or text, but it made my learning easier. This is not the only story of me, but of every student who has been in the same situation. This type of learning helps those students who are financially disadvantaged, and keeping this in mind, many people opened their own YouTube channels or websites through which students were able to prep for exams or boards. Some of the best examples, as per students' feedback and records, include Unacademy, Khan Classes, Abhinay Maths, Ocean Grill, and many more. These channels published their videos on YouTube, which made it easier for students to learn and grasp. As the students started taking help from it, they started liking the videos and subscribing to the channels.
But what is the actual point when anyone from the industry opens up and points at them and simply says – YouTube educators are do kaudi ke?
On May 29 – 30, just after the NEET exam paper got leaked, a famous journalist, Anajana Om Kashyap, who works at Aaj Tak, was conducting a debate where she said all the YouTube educators – ‘do kaudi ke '. This time was a very crucial time where many teachers pointed at the media and the government for the scandal. Instead of addressing this situation, Anajana pointed the gun back at these people and said that these online educators only aim for drama, views and subscribers to earn money from them without providing real knowledge to students.
There was a lot of controversy that was going on the TV channels, social media, and newspapers, and this also hit the internet again, but this time, internet people didn’t support it; they instead jumped out of the fire. Abhinay Sir (Abhinay Maths) hit back first, asking a simple but devastating question - if YouTube teachers are worthless, who exactly has been preparing millions of students for JEE, NEET, SSC, and UPSC all these years? Another Suman Mam (Ocean Gurukul) pointed out that she runs free marathon classes for students who can't afford coaching, and asked why a journalist in an air-conditioned studio was calling her a fraud instead of covering the real issues. Last but not least, Khan Sir, with his tens of millions of followers, delivered arguably the most cutting response: "Tu apna gyaan apne paas rakh." These are not the only ones; similar to these, a lot of responses came. It is such a shame that we have well-known and educated people around us, and still, they can't respect others' professions. Anjana is a well-known journalist and raises the question of teachers who aim to help several students pass their exams, but feel bad when listening. Many students believe in Khan Sir's education, which is the reason behind his having millions of followers.
In a generation where students have become more concerned about their education, they research and choose coaching centres with a lot of research and results. That is why these online channels run by these people have a lot of followers and students who believe in them. And just so, thousands of students from Bihar, UP, Rajasthan, and Jharkhand flooded social media with personal testimonials about how YouTube teachers carried them through COVID lockdowns and exam prep when no other option existed. The point of view that students are placed in is totally correct. If you look closely at the results at that time, the only reason behind those results was these teachers and platforms.
This question is not just about who raised the question at whom, but about how deeply the controversy went that it forgot that the real topic was the NEET scandal, where every single student sacrificed nights to study and then the paper was leaked; here, every student suffered.
Anajana Om Kashyap never apologised, and the channel never issued any clarification, and for obvious reasons, it happened. But the apology didn’t matter after what happened, which deeply affected all Indians towards a deeper and more serious irony.
TV news, already under fire for TRP-chasing and sensationalism, attacked digital educators for doing exactly that.
References :
- Aaj Tak
- YouTube