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Through his YouTube channel and mobile app, former government official Abhinay Sharma has embarked on a noble cause – to provide affordable education to millions of government job aspirants.
The platform, called Abhinay Maths, targets the majority of government job seekers, who come from second, third and fourth tier cities, where affordability is a major concern. To date, he says, it has provided free education to more than 10 million students from small towns and cities across the country, with more than 10,000 students having passed the state exams in which it is taught.
He says the decision to embark on this journey came from his childhood, most of which he spent in extreme poverty. His only strength was his ability to solve math problems.
Recalling the time when he was preparing for the SSC CGL (Staff Selection Committee – Combined Graduate Level) government recruitment exam, he said: “When I was preparing, there was only one book available. I didn’t have the luxury of attending free YouTube lessons. I would expect help from others, But no one helped me because of my financial background.”
“Now, I am trying to help students in my work. I have not refused to accept students from poor backgrounds. I see myself in them,” said the 32-year-old, who hails from Rampur village in Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh, India’s best.
From bad to worse
“Since my childhood, I have seen my mother listen to the taunts of relatives,” he says. “We had no stove. She would burn leaves to heat our milk. We would be ridiculed and humiliated for our poverty. Our relatives would tell us not to attend family gatherings because we had no good clothes. They wouldn’t even recommend their cars to us.”
“On my 10th and 12th I only wore one set of clothes all week. I would wash it on Sunday and do it again. My classmates would laugh at me and refrain from speaking to me.”
After graduating in Engineering, Abini started preparing for the competitive examination. He moved from his village to Greater Noida so that he could prepare for the exam. To support him emotionally, his family moved in with him. The family moved to an apartment with a monthly rent of 1,500 rupees.
He remembers that at that time, his father’s construction business was not very stable. Sometimes, we were getting enough money. But other times, we’d struggle with two square meals.
For family expenses, he started giving tuition fees and managed to earn 6,000 rupees per month with it. Meanwhile, he passes the competitive exam and gets a job in the Income Tax Department in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.
Another tragedy occurred when the landlord told the family that he would no longer rent to them, and asked them to vacate the apartment. “It was a very painful moment. I had tears in my eyes. But my father calmed me down, and we moved to another apartment in one week’s time.”
By then, he had turned down the government job offer because it was nowhere near home. Keep giving offline lessons. With this income, he started buying home appliances like air conditioners and oven. Their financial situation began to improve.
But in 2013, his family’s condition starts to deteriorate again when Abhinay falls in love. His career graph slowed and he had to leave the coaching job. He continued to give exams and in 2016 he got a job opportunity as an Audit Officer in Mumbai. This time, he took over.
But this did not put an end to the difficulties.
At the same time, his father’s business faltered. “This was one of the worst phases of my life. We bought a house in Greater Noida with our savings and took a huge loan of Rs 70,000 from the bank and Rs 40,000 from a friend. Such a situation came up that I had to struggle to recharge 10 rupees. Of Bad stage, it went to good, then to worse,” says Abhinay.
To make matters worse, his mother had facial paralysis, and his father was diagnosed with diabetes. Abhinay realized that the government job was not enough to pay off loans and cover family expenses. After four months on the job, he quit and went home.
When the tables have turned
Returning home, Abhinay sells his phone and moves with his brother into a rented apartment with some winnings. We would stay and sleep in one room, and the next morning we would assign seats to the students ourselves. In July, we started with a group of 20 students and managed to raise nearly Rs 1 lakh, he says.
In mid 2017, one of Abhinay’s students suggested he upload a video to YouTube. Within six days, the video had more than a million views, he said.
“In the video description, we added a link to one of the books I wrote. Students loved it because I had the simplest answers to math problems. For example, how can one make algebra and trigonometry easy using zero. I started making 5-7 lakh rupees Because of this. That was one of the best phases of my life. Just a year ago, I would even struggle with my meals. I’ll just live on Maggi,” he says.
Inspired by this, Abhiny started his own YouTube channel – Abhinay Maths – in October 2017. The channel became one of the first few educational YouTube channels to reach 1 million subscribers in just eight months. He also expanded his training to an auditorium with a capacity of 150 students. When he announced the class in November, about 500 students approached him.
They were queuing up to study in my class. We were able to pay off the loans. In 2018, I bought my first car, a Mercedes-Benz. Since then, I have bought 10 cars. I am not replicating any clothing items now. I was able to respond with silence to all those who mocked me and my family. I feel like I’ve lived all my dreams,” he smiles.
Affordable education for millions
Abhinav saw YouTube as a way to reach more students in remote areas. It provides free watch-later books and content to students who cannot afford an education.
“I have taught the whole course three times on YouTube. Those who do not want to study for free courses to buy on our mobile application, where we also offer some courses for free. If someone does not have enough money, we never ask them and give them admission (whatever they have),” he adds.
For example, one of his students, Naresh Jogoluth, who hails from Hyderabad, cannot afford expensive study materials. “My father is a farmer. Because of my financial condition, I could only pay 2,000 rupees for a course on a mobile app, even though the course is 5,000 rupees. Generally, we charge at least 10,000 rupees and up to 16,000 rupees for the same course before. other institutes. Besides affordability, Abhinay sir simply teaches concepts through different methods. I was able to pass the preliminary examination after studying on YouTube,” said the 27-year-old India’s best.
Like Naresh, Abhinay has more than 2.5 million subscribers on his YouTube channel. “Throughout this journey, I have never seen education as a business. Only a structured curriculum and teaching can revolutionize education. Money comes after hard work. I believe a teacher can never be a good businessman, and a businessman can never be a good teacher.” I will continue to teach for free on YouTube, even if I retire.”
Edited by Divya Sethu
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