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Students and parents in India spend a lot on study material, often without knowing that a large library of free, official content already exists. The catch is that it is spread across several government platforms with similar names. This post explains what each one offers, who it is for, and how to use it so you actually finish what you start.
Why use official platforms at all?
Two reasons: cost and reliability. They are free, and they are run by bodies such as the IITs, NCERT and the Ministry of Education, so the content follows the official curriculum. The weak point is completion, not quality. Research on free online courses shows most people who enrol never finish: an analysis of early courses by Jordan (2014) found an average completion rate of 6.5%. A free resource only helps if you build a routine around it, which is covered at the end.
NPTEL: university courses from the IITs and IISc
NPTEL is a programme of seven IITs and IISc, funded by the Ministry of Education. Its home page, as of October 2026, lists more than 3,200 unique courses for self-study, mostly in engineering and science, with many lectures also on YouTube.
Who it suits: college students, Class 12 students looking ahead to first-year subjects such as calculus or programming, and anyone preparing for GATE. Courses run for 4, 8 or 12 weeks, twice a year. Watching is free. A certificate needs weekly assignments and a paid, in-person proctored exam; the NPTEL FAQ says most courses require at least 40 out of 100 on both the assignment average and the final exam.
SWAYAM: free courses from Class 9 to postgraduate
SWAYAM is the Ministry of Education's main course platform. Its About page says it hosts courses "taught in classrooms from Class 9 till post-graduation" and that all courses are "available, free of cost to any learner". Each course has four parts: video lectures, downloadable reading material, self-assessment quizzes and a discussion forum.
Different bodies coordinate different levels: NCERT and NIOS for school education, NPTEL for engineering, UGC for non-technical postgraduate courses, and others. As with NPTEL, a certificate needs a fee-based, proctored exam at a centre. The page also notes that a 2016 UGC regulation advises universities to identify SWAYAM courses whose credits can be transferred to a student's record, so college students should ask their department which courses count.
DIKSHA and ePathshala: school textbooks and content
DIKSHA is the national platform for school education. It offers textbooks, videos, interactive content and courses, sorted by board, grade and subject, from the foundational stage to Grade 12. NEP 2020 names DIKSHA as the home for e-content from NCERT, CBSE, NIOS and the states.
ePathshala, developed by CIET at NCERT, is a portal and mobile app with audio, video, ePub and flipbook versions of NCERT material in Hindi, English and Urdu. The NCERT books themselves are also free as PDFs on the NCERT textbooks page.
Who it suits: school students in any board who want the standard textbook alongside explanations, and parents who want to see what their child is studying.
SWAYAM Prabha: education on television
SWAYAM Prabha runs free educational DTH channels for school, higher education and competitive exams, aimed especially at students in rural and remote areas where internet access is limited. Its site lists a bouquet of 280 channels under the PM e-Vidya programme, and its learning resources can also be browsed online.
How to use free platforms so you finish
Pick one course or one chapter set. Do not sign up for five. Choose the platform that matches your need: DIKSHA or ePathshala for school chapters, NPTEL or SWAYAM for a full course.
Schedule it. Put two or three fixed sessions a week in your calendar. Our post on why most people do not finish online courses has a fuller plan.
Test yourself after each video. Close the video and write the main points or solve one problem. Use the course quizzes, which are part of every SWAYAM course.
Aim for the exam if there is one. A fixed exam date gives the course an end.
Keep the textbook open. For school students, match each video to the NCERT section it covers.
When a lecture loses you
Recorded lectures cannot stop when you are confused. If one jumps over an idea you never learned, look up that one idea before going on. The Fermi Concept Library covers every concept in physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics and computing, each with its own lesson, so you can fill the gap and return to the course.
Open DIKSHA or NPTEL today, find one course or chapter you need this month, and book the first session.
