Byju’s to open 300 physical tuition centers this year as it bets big on hybrid learning

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)

Byju’s will be opening as many as 300 physical tuition centres in 2023, as the world's most-valued edtech firm bets on hybrid coaching as demand for online learning declines following the pandemic.

The edtech titan, currently valued at around $22 billion, made forays into hybrid teaching in 2022 by launching about 300 physical tuition centres last year with a commitment of up to $200 million. Byju's was the first major edtech company in India to open physical tuition centres in 2022, anticipating a drop in demand for online learning solutions with the reopening of schools, colleges, and physical tuition centres.

“We're building for the way in which students are learning now — the new way of learning, which is hybrid. So we launched 300 hybrid learning centres last year and we plan to do 300 more this year,” Divya Gokulnath, co-founder of Byju's, told Moneycontrol on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“We are adapting quickly to the new normal, and if anything, I think the last six to eight months have been very nice for us in going deeper and going broader as well in terms of what we have to offer students,” she added.

Moreover, Byju Raveendran, co-founder and CEO of Byju's, said that the company is experiencing continued momentum in demand for its core business, which is online K-12 (kindergarten to class 12) learning.

“After seeing the success of the hybrid model in Aakash, after the Aakash acquisition, we saw that there is an opportunity to scale that even for K-10 (kindergarten to class 10) segment,” said Raveendran.

“Unlike the Covid pullback that you see in certain segments of edtech, our core segment which is K-12 and learning at home, we see continued momentum. We saw growth from 2021 to 2022 and that’s continuing in 2023. We have added (offerings) to make sure that all types of students can learn from us. We have added more formats, and that’s what we were talking about in terms of even hybrid centres,” he added.

Raveendran's comments on the continued growth momentum in online K-12 learning solutions come as some of Byju's’ direct competitors, such as SoftBank-backed Unacademy and Tiger Global-backed Vedantu, have seen a drop in demand for their core services.

Moneycontrol previously reported on how edtech companies were struggling following the pandemic, with demand for online learning dwindling.

To be sure, Byju's, like many other edtech companies, had a terrible 2022. The company had come under fire for a variety of reasons, ranging from alleged mis-selling to accounting irregularities. The two co-founders, however, are hopeful of a “much better” 2023.

“We have learnt a lot in 2022. We are pioneers in edtech and not in perfection. We have learnt as we have grown, we have built on first principles, there was no rule book to go by. We are bettering our processes, we are learning as we are growing and if anything, you will only see us getting stronger in 2023,” Gokulnath said.