01 Why sharing free resources makes your institution look better, not cheaper
Many principals worry that pointing students at free material makes the school look like it is outsourcing teaching. In practice the opposite happens: a school or coaching institute that curates good, safe, genuinely free resources earns trust with parents — the same way a good doctor earns trust by telling you when you do not need a prescription. It also solves a real problem. After-school hours are where learning gaps widen, and most families either pay for apps they do not need or let students drift to YouTube. A short, curated "student resources" list on your website — or shared once a term on the parents' WhatsApp group — costs you nothing and gets used far more than you would expect. Every item below is free, works on a low-end phone, and needs no payment details anywhere in the signup flow.
02 1. NCERT official ebooks — every textbook, free, straight from the source
Every NCERT textbook from Class 1 to Class 12 is available as a free PDF on the official NCERT textbook portal. This matters more than it sounds: the pirated PDF copies floating around WhatsApp are often outdated editions with renumbered exercises, which quietly breaks homework instructions. Schools should link the official source on their website and in parent groups so families always land on the current edition. NCERT also publishes exemplar problems — harder, concept-first question sets that most parents have never heard of and that cost nothing.
03 2. DIKSHA — the government platform hiding behind your textbook QR codes
Those QR codes printed inside NCERT and many state-board textbooks resolve to DIKSHA, the Ministry of Education's learning platform. Scanning a code opens explainer videos, practice worksheets and interactive content for that exact chapter, in multiple Indian languages. Very few parents know this — which makes "scan the QR code in the textbook" one of the highest-value tips a class teacher can send home. DIKSHA also carries teacher-training content, so it is worth a mention in your staff room as well as on your parents' notice board.
04 3. National Digital Library of India — a real library card for every student
Run by IIT Kharagpur under the Ministry of Education, the National Digital Library of India aggregates tens of millions of items: school textbooks, reference books, previous-year question papers, video lectures and research material, searchable by class and subject. For senior-secondary students preparing for boards or entrance exams, the previous-year paper collections alone justify a bookmark. Registration is free with any email address.
05 4. Khan Academy — still the best free explainer library, now with Hindi classes
Khan Academy remains the gold standard for concept explainers, and its India-specific section maps lessons to NCERT chapters for maths and science, with a growing Hindi-language catalogue. The under-used feature for schools: teachers can create a free class, assign practice, and see exactly which students are stuck on which skill — a lightweight learning-management system at zero cost. For a school that cannot afford an LMS subscription, this is the closest free substitute.
06 5. RankGuru — free chapter-wise practice questions for NEET and JEE aspirants
Practice questions are where free resources thin out — most question banks sit behind a paywall after the first ten questions. RankGuru is a free platform offering chapter-wise NEET and JEE foundation practice questions with step-by-step solutions, so a student can drill exactly the chapter they studied that week rather than wading through mixed mock tests. Coaching institutes can point batches at the chapter-wise NEET biology practice sets on RankGuru for structured daily practice between classes, and schools with medical or engineering aspirants in Classes 11–12 can list it alongside NCERT exemplar problems on their resources page. Because solutions are worked step-by-step, it doubles as revision material, not just testing.
07 6. SWAYAM & NPTEL — free university-level courses for your toppers and teachers
For Class 11–12 students who have outgrown the syllabus, and for teachers who want formal upskilling, SWAYAM hosts free courses from IITs, IIMs and central universities — many with optional low-cost certification exams. The NPTEL engineering catalogue inside it is particularly strong for maths and science teachers who want to deepen subject knowledge. Sharing one relevant SWAYAM course a term with your teaching staff is a zero-budget professional-development programme.
08 How to actually get these into students' hands
A list like this only works if families can find it. Three low-effort distribution channels, in order of impact: (1) a "Student Resources" section on your school website — a titled list with one line explaining what each resource is for, so parents trust the links; (2) a once-a-term message on class WhatsApp groups, ideally from the class teacher rather than the office number; (3) a printed one-pager at PTM sign-in, since the parents who most need free resources are often the least online. If your website does not have a page you can easily add a list to, that is a sign the site is working against you — see the 11-feature CBSE website checklist for what a school site should let you do without calling a developer.