Teachers in the 21st century, especially true for a section of UPSC ‘educators’ or IAS training lobby, do not seem to desire respect as much as they seek power.
Avadh Ojha, or Ojha Sir, recently joined Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi. Though he went there wearing a tracksuit, the show was grand and involved big AAP leaders like national convener Arvind Kejriwal and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia.
Thanking them for welcoming him, Ojha said, “I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to join politics and work for the education sector. Education is a medium that forms the soul of families, societies, and nations. Every great nation has had education as a key foundation in its rise.”
Ojha’s vow to work for the betterment of the education sector stems from the fact that he has spent most of his last twenty years serving as a teacher for various coaching institutes. Born in Gonda, Uttar Pradesh, Ojha has taught at renowned coaching institutes like The ABC Academy of Civil Services, Chanakya IAS Academy, Unacademy, and Barthakur IAS Academy, among others.
UPSC students will attest to the fact that it was his stint at Vajiram & Ravi that made him a famous face among students. He used to teach World History there, and due to coaching being the top name in the industry, Ojha’s fame just exploded in the circle. Incidentally, he was liked more by students than his colleagues. We will delve deeper into it later.
Later, he opened his own IQRA IAS coaching in Pune, Maharashtra, claiming to provide education at affordable rates. NDTV says it charges anywhere between Rs 3,000 to Rs 23,000; however, IQRA IAS’s website itself contradicts this, as fees for many courses go as high as Rs 75,000.
Pic Courtesy : IQRAIAS
Then there is also AvadhOjhaClasses, whose fee is Rs 1,60,000—by no means a cheap one.
PC: avadhojhaclasses
Despite these lofty fees, Ojha is known for anything but teaching. He has earned his fame through extreme braggadocio and painting larger-than-life pictures of successful people, even going to the extent of giving tone-deaf praise for dreaded terrorists like Osama Bin Laden. Another worrisome fact is that he had sought tickets from both Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress before the 2024 elections. It was only after these talks failed that he went AAP’s way.
That is the issue here. In a way, he is saying that except for opportunism, there is no ideology involved in his politics, which seems pragmatic since our political setup is like that. But ideological deprivation has two angles to it—one is serving people at any cost, and the second is grabbing power at any cost.
Looking at how errant he has been behaving in online reels, videos, and on stages, it is not tough to guess what his ultimate motivation is.
Ojha is not the only person who made his name through controversies and viral reels. One of the biggest names in this industry is Vikas Divyakirti, the omnipotent man of the UPSC coaching called Drishti IAS.
In 2022, Divyakirti was in controversy regarding comments on Bhagwan Ram, claiming that he compared Sita Maa to ghee licked by the dog. After backlash, he went to a famous YouTube channel and claimed to have read about it from books and essays about Ramayan.
One may wonder why such a teacher, who is aware of how texts are interpreted and rewritten, would not inform children about the origins of the text related to those events. But with time, his more reels related to motivation went viral, and the issue died down.
Ojha, Divyakirti, Sandeep Manudhane of Pt Education fame, and Vijender Chauhan are some of the famous teachers who constantly get criticised on social media platforms for their conduct. While one gets it for his behavior, others get it for their political opinions.
Take Sandeep Manudhane, for example. During his Unacademy days, many in the comment sections accused him of political bias, but he kept denying it. The man now openly proclaims himself to be a Rahul Gandhi and Congress supporter—confirming students’ doubts. Whether he has left teaching or not is still a puzzle, but such images of teachers do more harm than good for education.
Vijender Chauhan of “Entry achi thi lekin baithne ka tarika thoda casual hai” fame is infamous for searching social justice themes in every historical event. He often advocates for looking at things from an identity angle rather than judging things on their argument and merit.
Regarding the nepotism allegation on Chirag Paswan, Chauhan claims that people attack him because he is the son of a Dalit. He also says that Jay Shah is not being questioned because he is not Dalit. Firstly, it is factually wrong. Shah is trolled day in and day out, and so is Paswan.
But such teachers ignore facts to look at things from a poisonous identity politics angle. His friend circle also consists of out-and-out casteist people like Laxman Yadav, who openly claims to be a socialist and actively promotes Samajwadi Party’s videos on social media platforms.
Such has been the state of affairs of UPSC coaching centers and teachers. Imagine judging a government policy based on a particular ideology. If it does not align with the ideology of the party in power, teachers will always end up teaching everything bad about that particular policy.
So, for privatisation, leftist teachers will talk about its impact on reservation while mentioning the possibility of increased efficiency as a passing note.
Even while comfortably traveling and studying on a private train like Tejas Express, students will only criticize its introduction. They will be totally oblivious to the fact that comfortable reading in a train is not a luxury afforded to most travelers of government-operated trains, which are again dependent on the old babus for efficient operation.
Such is the disconnect from reality ideological teachers can produce, and we can see it on social media. Students join coaching, get poor education based on a social justice theme, and then when they don’t qualify, join political consulting firms or political parties propagating the same themes on social media.
Meanwhile, enrollment, fees, and engagements on X, YouTube, and Facebook in these teachers’ coaching centers keep increasing thanks to social media traction gained through pseudo-intellectuality propagating a certain ideological point of view.
