81% EdTech Platform Users Faced Issues in Last 24 Months, Byju's Biggest Culprit, Reveals New Survey

The coronavirus pandemic brought about a sea change in global education systems as parents and individuals turned to online education or learning via technology platforms for additional courses, many of which were offered at discounted prices.

However, what was heralded as a shift in the education system soon became a problem as over the last two years, several complaints have surfaced with parents approaching the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and other consumer forums to seek resolution of various fraudulent activities, including overcharging course fees to not getting refund after unsatisfactory trial period, not providing any services, teacher ineffectiveness, or poor quality course material.

Noticing the trend, the Centre, in January 2022, issued an advisory asking users to be cautious before signing up for online courses and to desist from clicking on the auto-debit feature offered by companies. Putting in a word of caution, Union Minister of State (MoS) for education Dr Subhas Sarkar said: “Do not trust the ‘success stories’ shared by EdTech companies without proper check as they might be a trap to gather more audience.”

Problematic Journey

While several online education platforms have come up over the years, the success stories haven’t lasted long. Some like Lido Learning downed shutters after charging full fee for their courses and laying off staff. Others like Udayy, Crejo.Fun, Qin1, and SuperLearn have also shut operations.

In December 2022, the NCPCR issued summons to Byju’s founder Byju Raveendran over allegations of the platform “indulging in malpractice”. In May 2023, the Enforcement Directorate was reported to have searched premises linked to Byju’s over alleged violation of forex rules. On June 23, media reported that three directors of Byju’s representing some prominent investors had resigned along with its auditor Deloitte.

According to media reports, venture funding to EdTech sector rose from $500 million in 2019 to $4.7 billion in 2020, of which $1.9 billion flowed into Byju’s alone.

As complaints by anguished parents rose, LocalCircles conducted a survey to find out the key issues that users of these platforms are experiencing. It also went a step further to understand which platforms were causing most anguish. The survey received over 32,000 responses from consumers located in 261 districts of India. Of these, 67 per cent respondents were men while 33 per cent respondents were women, 47 per cent respondents were from tier 1, 35 per cent from tier 2 and 18 per cent respondents were from tier 3 & 4 districts.

Unhappy experience

Asked about the kind of issues respondents or their family members faced with online education platforms in the last 24 months, 8 per cent indicated (1) teaching staff changes/effectiveness issues; 11 per cent indicated (2) refund issues; 8 per cent indicated (3) share trust issues like false promises and transparency issues; 27 per cent opted for 1& 2 options; 27 per cent chose all the three options while 19 per cent indicated that they had had no issues. In all, 81 per cent of online education platform users surveyed indicated that they had faced one or more issues in the last 24 months.

The top issue indicated by those surveyed shows that 65 per cent had faced problems with getting fee refunds when the courses were found to be below expectations; 62 per cent had problems with the changes in teaching staff/ effectiveness of teaching; and 35 per cent had complaints about the false promises, trust and transparency issues.

The next question in the survey attempted to understand which specific platforms people had most issues with. It asked respondents, “In the last 24 months, which is the online education platform you and your family have faced issues with?” This query was answered by 20,365 respondents, some of whom selected more than one option.

The largest group or 32 per cent had issues with Byju’s, 10 per cent each pointed to Unacademy, Udemy, and others; 3 per cent indicated Vedantu; 3 per cent Simplilearn; and 2 per cent Physicswallah. There were 10 per cent respondents who claimed “not to have faced issues with online platforms but in person classes or institutes”; and 20 per cent “have not faced any issues with any education platform”. The survey response shows that while 32 per cent have faced issues with Byju’s, there are several others which users had issues with, indicating that there is a need for clear set of regulations to govern the sector.

According to reports, the EdTech industry’s problems go far beyond those faced by the students. Employees across platforms have complained of abusive managers, toxic work culture and long hours. The need of the hour here is for ministries like Education, MEITY, Consumer Affairs and Labour to come together, form rules and ensure both the platforms and the consumers are aware of what is expected. If done right, Edtech is a sector which has huge potential to improve access of quality education across the country.

About LocalCircles

LocalCircles, India’s leading Community Social Media platform enables citizens and small businesses to escalate issues for policy and enforcement interventions and enables the Government to make policies that are citizen and small business centric. LocalCircles is also India’s # 1 pollster on issues of governance, public and consumer interest.