A video of some former teachers in the Indian education technology start-up Physics Wallah recently went viral on social media. The teachers in this video broke into tears while interacting with the students and the management of the ed-tech unicorn. Tarun Kumar, Manish Dubey, Sarvesh Dixit, and Aditya Anand are among those left the edtech platform. The teachers have now started a separate platform of their own and named it ‘Sankalp’. The disagreement between these teachers and the company was regarding the allegations of taking bribes from students against these teachers.
Kalesh B/w Physicswallah Teachers and Alakh Pandey pic.twitter.com/oojQHfnxI5
— Ghar Ke Kalesh (@gharkekalesh) March 25, 2023
Tarun Kumar, Manish Dubey, and Sarvesh Dixit alleged in this video that Physics Wallah teacher Pankaj Sijairya falsely accused them of taking a bribe of Rs 5 crore from rival platform Adda247 to quit PhysicsWallah. They further alleged that there have been strikes on their YouTube channel Sankalp by PhysicsWallah. They said that they resigned because the atmosphere at the edtech company was no longer favourable to students. The teachers have claimed that more teachers will be soon joining their new platform Sankalp.
In videos shared on the YouTube channel of ‘Sankalp’, these teachers explained more about their decision to leave Physics Wallah. The teachers said that they were trying to abide by the vision Alakh Pandey had at the time of starting the organisation Physics Wallah and they left because the situations were no more aligned with the vision. The teachers also said that they had decided to leave the organisation in January 2023, but they remained with the organisation till completing the syllabus so that students don’t get disturbed.
They have claimed that PhysicsWallah’s mission to provide good, affordable education got sidelined as the organisation grew bigger. They said that allegations of them being paid Rs 5 crore as bribe from Adda247 are completely baseless and they quit PhysicsWallah because its atmosphere was no longer conducive to learning or teaching.
Tarun Kumar, Manish Dubey, Aditya Anand, and Sarvesh Dixit said that they resigned together after giving proper notice period, and assured that they will continue to work for their students, most of whom are candidates for entrance exams for higher education. They said that have left their content at PhysicsWallah, which the company can continue to use.
While narrating what has happened to the students of the platform, Kumar, Dubey and Dixit broke down into tears in the video. This started when they started to narrate how they took the decision to quit the company and start their own venture. They showed WhatsApp messages sent to Prateek Maheshwari in January, where they had told him that they are depressed due to what was happening.
“Sir I am highly dipresssd and frustrated, Es system ko benane me sub kuch laga diya including health… Mere life ke sabse badi mistake mene aap ke baat man ker kota aagya family ko bhi problem Me dala. Aap ne keha tha ye aap ka sacrifice hi company ke liye…”, one of them sent to Maheswari on 11 January.
“Sir me System se imotional connect tha, kyo ke India ke baccho ke liye kuchh kerna chahta tha.. Sir aap ko kya lagta hai mujhe kabhi offers nahi mele hogai. Per meine kabhi unko intertain nahi kiya. System ko priority de Es system me sub kuch dene ke baad mujhe kya mila insult, dipression, family distractions, health issues.. Aap ke kahne per kota aagya, online classes with complete load and offline classes complete management … rat 3 baje tak kam kiya hai ….bina complain kiya. Sir ab nehi,” said another message. While showing this messages, they turned very emotional. While they had started by calmly narrating their version of the story, it soon turned into a BiggBoss-like drama as they started crying, and became busy consoling each other.
They said that false allegations have been level against them that they left PhysicsWallah suddenly, and said that those who are lying won’t be saved. Aditya Anand was seen as the most emotional among them.
The Sankalp team received support from the students on their channel, and they showed messages received from the students. Apart from two videos posted by the team together, there are two videos by Tarun Kumar and Manish Dubey explaining why thy left PW.
Physics Wallah is an ed-tech company started by Alakh Pandey and Prateek Maheshwari in 2016. Initially, a YouTube channel, the company later developed an application in 2020 and went on to expand its business by employing more teachers. The company achieved success during the Covid-19 lockdown, when students were confined to homes and schools had moved to online classes.
