New Delhi (Education Desk): After the declaration of NEET UG 2025 results, there is an atmosphere of happiness and discussion across the country, but this time the center of discussion is not just the rank of the toppers, but the claims of coaching institutes have become. In a video and some posts going viral on social media, it is being claimed that Keshav Mittal, the student who got All India Rank (AIR) 7 of NEET UG 2025, is being claimed by many coaching institutes as their student. These claims have created an atmosphere of both debate and mockery among netizens.
Same student, claims of three coaching institutes!
17-year-old Keshav Mittal, a resident of Barnala district of Punjab, appeared for the NEET UG exam for the first time this year and secured All India Rank 7 by securing 680 out of 720 marks. With this, he also became the top scorer of Punjab state. The National Testing Agency (NTA) released the results of the exam on June 14, in which more than 22.7 lakh students appeared. Soon after the results were announced, several big coaching institutes such as Allen Career Institute, Motion Education Kota and Narayana Coaching Centre attributed Keshav’s success to their coaching on their respective social media platforms. This shocked social media users and there was a flood of memes and comments on it.
Questions raised on social media
A viral post read, “#NEET2025 #AIR7 student Keshav Mittal is being claimed by three different coaching institutes @allenkota, @MotionKota and @narayanacoach. Can anyone confirm?” People have called these conflicting claims a publicity strategy and questioned the ethics of the coaching industry. One user wrote, “If three coaching centres are claiming the same topper as their own, then what is the truth? Is this just a marketing stunt?”
स्कैम नहीं प्यार है
कोचिंग वालों का केशव के लिए pic.twitter.com/0D73tRrFAh— राजस्थानी ट्वीट (@8PMnoCM) June 19, 2025
‘Class one, test series another’
Some users also tried to explain this confusion. One post read, “This student used to take regular classes at one coaching centre, while he had also joined the test series of another centre. Perhaps that is why all the institutes are claiming him as their student.” This argument has merit because often students take classes at one coaching centre and participate in the test series of another coaching centre, so that they can compare their performance.
Questions on coaching industry’s strategies
This case highlights the growing competition and aggressive marketing strategies in the coaching industry. Every year lakhs of students prepare for competitive exams like medical and engineering, and the face of the topper becomes the biggest means of branding for the institute. One user wrote sarcastically, “Maybe now coaching centres should also write on the board: ‘The topper has come from our place – whoever he is.'” At present, Keshav Mittal has not made any public comment on this controversy. But in this era of social media, it is possible that he or his family will come forward soon and clarify the situation.
This controversy has definitely forced us to think that who should be given the credit for the hard work of the students – the institute that teaches them, the centre that provides the test series or the student himself?
