Byju’s, the edtech giant, on Saturday said it would respond to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) after the statutory body summoned the company’s CEO to seek clarity after a report alleged that the company was mis-selling and “actively tricking” parents into buying courses they could not afford.
The NCPCR, a statutory body that is tasked to deal with the protection of child rights and other matters, on Friday demanded that Byju Raveendran, CEO, Byju’s, be present in person before it at 2 pm on December 23. The report also found that the Bengaluru-based company misled parents into taking loans to pay for expensive courses and later, the amount was not refunded when demanded. That, along with other sales strategies, resulted in several families facing huge losses which “put their savings and futures in jeopardy”.
“We have received the summons yesterday. We are compiling a transparent response based on facts to address the unsubstantiated complaints. We will clarify our position before the commission if required,” a Byju’s spokesperson said in a statement to FE.
Highlighting the magnitude of the situation, if Raveendran failed to comply with the order, without a lawful excuse, he would be “subjected to the consequences of the non-attendance”, the NCPCR said on Friday.
The NCPCR also plans to seek more details from Raveendran on why his sales teams “exploited and deceived” parents by “indulging in malpractices to lure parents”.
“…along with the details of all the courses run by Byju’s for children, the structure of these courses and the fee details, the number of students currently enrolled in each course, the refund policy of Byju’s, the legal documents regarding the recognition of Byju’s as a valid ed-tech company and all other relevant documents regarding the claims made in the aforementioned news report,” NCPCR said in its summons.
Byju’s, however, maintains that the 26 people surveyed by the media outlet was not a true representation of the culture at the startup, which hopes to list on the stock exchanges soon, since they are only a fraction of the 10,000 members it has in its sales team.