Why is the JEE (Advanced) topper Mridul Agarwal's face on multiple coaching centre advertisements?

On October 15, celebrations broke out at Pradeep Agarwal's house in Jaipur. His 18-year-old son, Mridul Agarwal managed to score 348 out of 360 marks in the Joint Entrance Examination (Advanced) to score the All India Rank one, in what is regarded as one of the toughest competitive examinations in the world. Right before that, he had topped the JEE (Mains) too. An elated Pradeep and his wife Pooja, while distributing sweets and answering congratulatory messages from the known and the unknown, managed to sneak in some time to tell an EdexLive reporter that Mridul was never one of those children who studied for set hours.

However, the advertisements of various coaching centres across the country, that appeared on different mediums raised a question — How many coaching institutions did Mridul go to? 

While speaking to EdexLive on Friday, Pradeep said that Mridul joined ALLEN Career Institute, Jaipur, right after Class VIII. "He cleared the Allen test with a good score and managed to get a full scholarship," said the father. The coaching institute went on a tweeting spree after the results. "The G in Parle-G: For everyone, G Mane Genius For Mridul G Mane JEE," to quote one of them. His photographs were suddenly there in all the advertisements too.

READ ALSO: JEE Advanced 2021 topper Mridul Agarwal's house overflooded with joy: He never studied when he didn't want to

Now Mridul tells us that ALLEN is the only coaching institute that he went to. But why are other institutes using his photograph? The 18-year-old tells us the reason. "I had attempted the test series of 3-4 institutes in the past," he says. Now even though prima facie it appears that Mridul had also studied in these institutes, a close introspection of the ads reveals that he had only attempted their test series (a series of mock tests that generate instant scores).

But is he ready to name these institutes? Certainly not. "I am not comfortable with it. I do not want to create a controversy around it now," he says. He has no qualms about his face being there everywhere. Amid this, he admits, "They (coaching institutes) market themselves in such a way that things are not clear for students."