A thread on Byjus

Many years ago there was a guy called Arindam Chaudhari. He wore a ponytail, ranted a lot of nonsense, valued his businesses at Rs 100 crore and mocked at India for being old fashioned.

He started an institute - promising the world. He charged exorbitant fees, and in return gave a laptop and some highly dubious course material. He promised his students will be in Wall Street in three years time.

Today, at least 22,000 students all over India have filed over 1700 petitions, complaints against him in fury. I am one of the 219 lawyers who filed petitions in both Karnataka (through associate counsel) and Madras High Courts.

Arindam has been accused of a variety of charges from fraud to tax evasion.

Every generation has its own Arindam Chaudhari.

They target the average and below average students and promise them the sun and the moon. These poor kids get baited hook line and sinker.

Aware of their shortcomings and realizing that they will never get into IIMs or get a perfect GRE score or an attractive engineering college, they get convinced that their life will change.

Byjus is the Arindam Chaudhari 2.0.

The same Arindam Chaudhari brand of baiting the average and below average by promising them the sun, the moon and the stars.

First off are the exhorbitant charges.

Like Chaudhari, they 2 give u a laptop & charge u almost Rs 1.5 lakhs for classes I - class III. That's Rs 50,000/- for a year, but like a vegetable market if u choose the year package, you get it for Rs 90,000/-.
Likewise, as you go to a higher class, you pay a higher sum.

4 taking their package upto Class X, u pay Rs 2 lacs flat. (From 4th to X)
& u hv different combinations for 11th and 12th, beginning frm Rs 70k- to Rs 1,80,000/- + horrendous fees for English and Hindi alone (Around 80k)
Plus Rs 5k for a Test Series
Plus Rs 45k for Crash Courses

So, the charges are huge. Almost equivalent to school fees and in many cases higher than what schools charge - at least in TN State
Now are there any serious benefits?
Unless Byjus has a direct line to the Goddess Kaali & can give divine blessings to students, the answer is NO

Average students will continue to be average. Below average students will continue to be below average.

Most of the IIT Toppers are toppers for two reasons: One reason of course is they work hard. And the other reason is THEY ARE INTELLIGENT.

You cannot bring an average guy and make him an IIT topper just by offering a glitzy course with glossy pamphlets.

I speak with examples, of course.

A neighbor of mine enrolled her kid who scored 63% marks in Class X to the 11th and 12th plan of Byjus.

Apparently the woman assured her that the kid was intelligent and should go to the science group and that their system would take care of any chinks.

She spoke so well that this woman literally handed over her child to Byjus, like people did in the old days handing their child to a guru in a gurukul.

The kid's marks did not improve.

He worked hard, but to no avail. Supposedly there was a counsellor, but he was a half baked fellow himself who kept telling the kid to mutter this shloka and that.

The woman shelled out Rs 1.90 lakhs to Byjus (her SBI Credit or Debit Card was used every time) and each time she came to pay the money, there would be more promises.

‘He just has to overcome his tension’ ; ‘He just has to concentrate’;

'He is a very bright student but…’
Meanwhile the kid's maths teacher literally told the mother, “Your son is very average. He simply cannot study in the science group. Please place him somewhere where he can relax and do well.”

Eventually the kid secured 68% in Class XII with 59 marks in mathematics. The mother was distraught and requested my wife to ask me to come with her to Byjus.

Apparently Byjus had promised the mother that if the kid got less than 75% , they would give him 12th coaching again free of cost or would refund some money or a lot of money (Not sure how much).

So we went and immediately the woman got some other schmuck wearing a shirt and tie who gave a card to us - and began his slick lies. He brought up some report card and said the kid was this and that

(Which the mother had never heard of before that day) and reluctantly refused to repeat the 12th coaching again or give a refund.

The mother was in tears.

And I realized there was nothing in writing. Just as we left - the Schmuck - came to us and told us, “Sir! I can help you out. I can get the kid a second chance at 40% discount and I can give you a one on one coaching.

Slowly more and more mothers - more and more of the same story.

They target the average and below average students.

They charge exorbitant fees.

Their teachers are selected from schools and they get huge cuts and commissions for referrals. So a teacher intentionally gives low marks to the student and “advises” the mother to send the child to a tuition like Byjus.

They promise the sun, the moon and the stars.

Eventually, unless you leak the paper, the average student and below average student continue to remain average and below average respectively, or if they do we'll, it would be their own hard work not Byjus.

When you go back angry, they will make excuses and send you home.

Then I heard they are now valued at Rs 88,000 crores !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am ashamed our country is a target for these dubious “educational institutions” to come and offer the world to the mediocre and suck their money and leave them dry and reeling

In USA and India, the average are promised that they are extraordinary and offered a course for huge fees, promising them the sun, the moon and the stars. And after everything is finished, they get ZILCH. All they get is huge loss of money.

Or, worse, a loan from a private lender.

It is one of the biggest cons in the history of Indian education

You want to do well,

Assess your Intelligence,
Find out your range,
Do the best that you can for your range,
Work hard to achieve the range

Remember the homily of Senathypathy in Indian, “If you can get a job with your own talent and education, good. Otherwise, settle down and do any honorable job you can do your best at.

PS: The NEET and IIT courses of Byjus are not included. I don't have enough data to conclude if they are dubious or not.

So Byjus is not a slap on India's education system but a slap on India and every average Indian out there.

End of thread. Thanks for reading

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