Teachers ghosting classes: How FIITJEE centres across India closed down all of a sudden

One of India's oldest coaching institutes, Forum for Indian Institute of Technology-Joint Entrance Examination (FIITJEE), is witnessing unrest between faculty and the management over “ghost teaching and subsequent unpaid dues" for over the past six months.

This resulted in a mass faculty resignation at several centres prompting sudden closure of operations, leaving students at bay at the peak time of preparation when entrance exams are around.

Numerous FIITJEE centres across cities, including Delhi-NCR (Noida and Ghaziabad), Meerut, Varanasi, Lucknow, Pune and Kolkata, shut operations over the past week.



Several parents, whose children are enrolled in the affected centres, have filed FIRs with the local police.

The sudden shut down at these centres has led to many parents getting their children enrolled at other institutes or edtech platforms, especially those who are in the middle of preparing for the second session of JEE (Mains) scheduled in April. The first session of JEE (Mains) has just been concluded.

FIITJEE was set up in 1991 by IIT-Delhi graduate DK Goel, the founding chairman and chief mentor of the institute.

‘Teachers ghosting classes’

Students at the institute revealed that teachers ghosting classes had become a major issue. This led to a tussle with the management that in turn put salaries on hold, and eventually to a mass faculty exit. Some teachers have now joined other institutes for better offers and others plan to open their own coaching venture.

In Noida Scetor-62 and Ghaziabad centres., just a few days before the closure, students here were told to join classes at Aakash, another well-known coaching institute.

Similarly, a FIITJEE centre located in South Kolkata, which was one of the most flourishing coaching centres in the area until 2023, shut down operations overnight without any notice merged into another coaching centre,

Parents of students enrolled at several of these centres said that their children told them “teachers were not attending classes initially" and “later announced in class that they were resigning since their salaries remained unpaid".