Reaching Out to Masses: MD Classes offers online live classes for various government exams

A lot of people, especially from small towns, have realised that after the pandemic private sector jobs may be at risk, but not public sector jobs. That’s one of the reasons a lot of people from small towns are getting onto online live classes platforms such as MD Classes, run by Satyam Gupta from Basti, Uttar Pradesh, to prepare for various government exams such as railways, UPSI (UP Police Sub Inspector), SSC etc.

His reach, across online channels including YouTube, Instagram and Facebook, is more than 20 lakh students. “I have taught students across the country via video lectures,” Gupta told FE. “And more than 5,000 students of mine have cracked government exams.”

During the lockdown, Gupta realised that education had become more skewed as underprivileged students were not able to afford his video lectures. He then decided to provide an affordable learning platform for students from low-income groups in small towns who were affected the most during the pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns. Then he launched his own app through Classplus—an edtech platform that enables educators to launch their courses online—where his courses are available at nominal prices.

“In general, online railway entrance exam preparation wasn’t really affordable for a lot of people,” he said. “The ticket size was about Rs 4,000. So we started creating our own courses and we currently offer the railway entrance exam preparation package for only Rs 639.”

MD Classes doesn’t teach via recorded video lectures, but has taken the live classes route. “Live online classes are much more effective,” Gupta said. “While we will stick to the live classes route—and will offer the UPSI exam preparation course for Rs 1,299—we may start recorded sessions in due course of time.”

MD Classes also plans to prepare students for teaching exams such as TGT, PGT, TET, and so on.

As of now, MD Classes isn’t seeking funding. Gupta said: “While we understand that funding opens up a lot of opportunities, but there can also be restrictions to growth and especially freedom. It’s not that we are closed to the idea of funding; we are perhaps trying to find the right set of people. Right now we’re just focusing on organic growth, and fortunately this organic growth is going on very well.”