The apex child rights body National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) on Friday summoned the educational technology behemoth BYJU’S CEO Byju Raveendran over allegations that it is indulging in malpractices to lure parents and children to buy their courses. Raveendra has been asked to appear before the NCPCR on December 23.
The Commission urged asked the CEO to appear in person before it with information about all of the courses that BYJU’s offers to children, including information about their course structure, fees, the number of students who are currently enrolled in each course and details of its refund policy.
“As the Commission has come across a news article wherein it has been pointed out that the sales team of BYJU’S is indulging in malpractices to lure parents to buy their courses for their children. lt has also been mentioned in the news report that some customers have also claimed that they were exploited and deceived, and had put their savings and futures in jeopardy,” the NCPCR said in a statement.
According to a media report, BYJUs is dealing with a number of complaints from clients on consumer websites and social media platforms, who allege they were exploited and duped into risking their savings and futures.
“The Commission is in observance that indulging into malpractices to lure the parents/children into entering loan-based agreements and then causing exploitation is against the welfare of children and in pursuance of the functions and powers under Section 13 and 14 of CPCR Act, 2005, the Commission requires you to appear in person before it 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 news report at 1400 hours on 23.12.2022 to explain the discrepancies in relation to the said matter,” the order by NCPCR said.
The NCPCR further added that if the BYJU’s CEO fails to comply with NCPCR’s order without a lawful explanation, he “will be subjected to the consequences of the non-attendance as provided in Rule 10 and Rule l2 of Order XVI of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908”.
NCPCR also asked the company to submit legal documents showing that it is recognised as a valid ed-tech company, along with all other relevant documents, to explain the discrepancies. The documents will have to be submitted by 2 PM on December 23.
