NCPCR directs BYJU’S to conduct affordability test of families before selling courses The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) Chief Priyank Kanoongo said that Byju’s has agreed to conduct an affordability test of parents before selling courses and loans to them, while also agreeing to revise its refund policy.
Chief Priyanka Kanoongo said “Byju’s has agreed to conduct an affordability test of parents before selling courses and loans to them. They have agreed that they will not be selling courses to families having monthly income of less than Rs 25,000. Other than that, they have agreed to refund the full course fees to parents who would have failed the affordability test but were sold courses and loans.”
Byju’s said that it does not directly offer loans to its users. In order to assist students that require financial support, where requested, Byju’s connects the parents of such students to reputed third-party banks or financial institutions. The company also claimed that 98.5 percent of the refund requests that are submitted to it through official channels are processed within 48 hours.
Some parents claimed that they were exploited and deceived, putting their savings and future at risk. The report also mentioned that the ed-tech platform has been “actively tricking” customers to enter into loan-based agreements for courses which may not be refunded if the customer wished to do so. In addition, Byju’s reportedly received multiple complaints from the parents of children but did nothing to address them.
