The year 2022 was not a rosy one for Edtech unicorn BYJU’s as they once again grabbed everyone's attention for all the wrong reasons. In the latest controversy, The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has summoned the CEO of the company, Byju Raveendran , for an in-person meeting over alleged malpractice of hard selling and mis-selling of courses.The NCPCR chairperson Priyank Kanoongo said that they would report the company to the government for their wrong selling practices. He told ANI, “They're targeting first-generation learners. We'll initiate action and make a report and write to govt."
Kanoongo highlighted that BYJU's is allegedly buying the phone numbers of children and their parents and threatening them into buying their courses.He said, "We came to know how Byju's buying phone numbers of children and their parents, rigorously following them and threatening them that their future will be ruined.”The commission said in a statement that they will take action against the ed tech company as per Section 14 of the Commission for Protection of Child Rights (CPCR) Act, 2005."BYJU's strongly denies the allegation that it purchases students' databases. We categorically state that we have never bought any database and expect that the media will refrain from making such a baseless and unsubstantiated allegation.Founded in 2011, the Bengaluru-based startup launched its learning app in 2015 and soon snowballed into a multibillion-dollar behemoth—and India’s leading edtech business—with members of the country’s burgeoning middle class seeking jobs and financial security in one of the world’s biggest tech hubs.But as the company has grown, so have the complaints. Byju’s employees say its success is built on the back of an abusive and exploitative work environment and unscrupulous sales practices that involve profiling, pursuing and pressuring potential customers from poorer backgrounds to buy its courses.