Prayagraj: A narrow dusty road in the bustling market of Teliyarganj Colony in the central part of Prayagraj city in Uttar Pradesh was unusually quiet. The only sounds one could hear were that of two-wheelers zipping past every few minutes.

Among a few shops selling readymade garments stood a nondescript computer typing institute. The board on display outside the institute said that courses on the Tally computer language and artificial intelligence are taught there.

Down the stairs, inside the computer typing institute, Vimal* was taking a History class. He had on a blue shirt with a label on the front pocket that said ‘Exampur’. The class was going to be a one-hour online session dedicated to explaining the advent of the Delhi Sultanate.

“Following the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, the reins of the Mughal empire had passed into British hands by 1857, a transition marked by the famous proclamation  at Allahabad’s Minto Park in 1858 announcing the transfer of power to Queen Victoria”, Vimal told his students. Allahabad, of course, refers to Prayagraj, which was rechristened by the Adityanath government in 2018. 

And then Vimal seemed to change track suddenly. “These days some people are telling the teachers only to focus on their work of imparting education. But what needs to be kept in mind is that if something wrong is happening we ought to raise our voice”, he said, as if part of a monologue. 

“Do remember that the 1857 revolt was an unsuccessful one since the educated class was in oblivion,” he added, before moving on to the next part of the lecture. 

Vimal taking a class on Delhi Sultanate at the makeshift studio. Photo: Akanksha Kumar.

The benches in front of Vimal lay vacant. This is because he is working from a makeshift studio. Most of his students were attending the lecture remotely, following it through a digicam as notes were displayed on a 75-inch smartboard right behind him. 

On the evening of June 4, when this reporter met Vimal, he had resumed teaching after a gap of a few days. 

On May 31, as reported by Dainik Bhaskar, three coaching institute premises were sealed by the Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) for alleged non-compliance of fire safety norms. Exampur Coaching was among them. The proprietors of all three coaching institutes have alleged that the action was targeted and came in response to their support for students protesting an alleged paper leak in the Lekhpal examinations. 

These exams are meant to hire lekhpals, who are village-level clerks in the revenue department, who are usually responsible for maintaining land records and keeping track of mutation entries that reflect the transfer of property.

At a makeshift lecture studio, The Wire spoke to two faculty members associated with Exampur Coaching to understand their version of events and why they chose to support the paper leak protest. 

Inside a makeshift studio of Exampur Coaching. Photo: Akanksha Kumar.

‘Batch strength reduced by 50%’

“Sealing of the premises essentially means that we can’t take online lectures from our regular studio, so we are conducting classes from elsewhere,” said Vimal while talking to The Wire. 

“Currently, the situation is such that some places where we are trying to set up a temporary studio are saying ‘no’, fearing there might be repercussions because of us,”  he further added. 

Following the PDA’s action, the strength of Exampur Coaching’s batches has been reduced by nearly 50%. Physical batches that earlier comprised around 400 students each have now been shifted online, with attendance now dropping to 100-150 per batch.  

The coaching institute had been equipped with smartboards and other study material which would have enabled the mentors to conduct what are known as ‘marathon revision........

© The Wire