Byju's gives in, rolls back decision to shut Kerala operations

The development comes against the backdrop of summons issued to the company by child rights body National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) over allegations that the edtech firm is indulging in malpractices to lure parents and children to buy their courses. (Source: ShutterStock)

Edtech giant Byju’s has agreed to revoke its decision to shut down its Trivandrum office operations after Byju Raveendran, CEO and founder of Byju's, met Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vajayan, and the company's vice president Sri Jayadev met labour department officials. The development comes a week after a group of employees met Kerala labour minister V Sivankutty alleging that Byju’s was forcing more than 170 staff to resign.

According to a post shared on Facebook, the world’s most valued edtech company has also agreed to take back employees who were asked to resign last month, in a meeting on November 2.

The development was verified by Vineeth Chandran, secretary of Prathidhwani, a welfare organisation of techies, who was present at the meeting.

"Following a detailed discussion between the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Kerala, Shri P. Vijayan, and Byju Raveendran, Founder of BYJU'S, we have decided to continue operations of our TVM product development centre. As a result, our 140 associates will continue to operate from this centre," said Byju's spokesperson on Moneycontrol's queries on the development.

The company has also said that an official communication will be sent to all employees regarding the decisions made during this meeting, the Facebook post read.

The edtech company has also assured employees that they will not face any retaliation from management as they join back, the post added.

Byju's, a week back, was planning to exit the Kerala office in the Carnival building of Technopark, according to a LinkedIn post by TechnoparkToday, a community digital media platform for IT professionals. Not to miss, Byju's chief Raveendran hails from the small coastal village of Azhikode in Kerala.

More than 170 employees who work at the Technopark office, after a push from the management to resign, approached Prathidhwani seeking help. Byju's claimed that the number of employees affected due to the restructuring was 140.

Prathidhwani requested Sivankutty to step in and help employees reach a settlement with the organisation.