The great Indian edtech refunds scam

Social media is littered with instances of parents and students running from pillar to post to get their money back once they realize the courses they signed up for are worthless. The absence of regulatory oversight has only made matters worse.

Three thousand two hundred rupees. That is the equated monthly instalment, or EMI, Shubham Dhande has to pay for his Unacademy subscription every month. At times he mans his father’s tea stall or does odd jobs; sometimes his grandfather gives him part of his pension—anything to put together the EMI. Or else the recovery agents will come knocking.

Dhande, 24, comes from a lower-middle-class family in Amravati, Maharashtra. While his father runs a tea stall, his mother works as a cook in the army canteen. Their only shot at a better life is if Dhande gets a good government job. …

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Pradip K. Saha

Pradip is a co-founder at The Morning Context and leads our newsletters vertical. He has previously worked at The Ken as a staff writer, at Mint as an assistant features editor and the Deccan Chronicle as a copy editor. He works with a slew of expert newsletter writers across subjects and domains. His own writing spans the gig economy, farmers caught in the crossfire of technology, global warming and parents trapped in the edtech wave. Some of his best stories have come at the intersection of technology and human endeavour.

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pradip@mailtmc.com

Delhi