Byju’s to Stop Selling Course to Poor Families after NCPCR notice
- Online education giant Byju's gets big blow by NCPCR body
- They were alleged of duping poor families by selling high-priced courses
- Byju's co-founder said to not sell courses to families having lower income
New Delhi: Online education provider Byju’s has said that it will not sell its tuition classes to low-income families or families who are not able to afford the charges. The company’s co-founder Praveen Prakash has announced that the company will check the affordability of its potential customers in order to not sell its courses or provide loans for courses to families with an income of less than 25,000.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) issued the summons following revelations in a two-part reference to Byju’s workplace culture and customer service processes. NCPCR chairperson Priyank Kanoongo said, “Children have got some relief today from the psychological trauma they and their families were being put through by the company’s aggressive policies. We cannot regulate the functioning of a tech company, but the impact of their exploitative tactics was definitely under our purview.”
The commission had received complaints that the company was involved in unethical business practices to woo parents. Many customers said that they were cheated or exploited in some or the other way while purchasing the courses and ultimately they could not even get their money back. Prakash represented Byju’s CEO Byju Raveendran during the in-camera hearing on December 23 following the NCPCR summons. This is believed to be the first such notice sent to an Indian edtech company for its sales practices.
