Edtech platform Unacademy lays off 2.6% employees due to poor performance

Edtech platform Unacademy on Saturday said that a small fraction of its workforce (2.6 per cent) has been asked to go as part of performance improvement programme (PIP).

Sources earlier told IANS that nearly 150 employees (2.6 per cent) from Unacademy's PrepLadder team were laid off.

A company spokesperson told IANS that "the departure of these employees is a result of the PIP, which is a standard practice in all organisations".

"Unacademy has not conducted any layoffs, and we strongly deny the information as it is factually incorrect," the spokesperson added.

The company said the affected employees have been given generous severance and support, like "garden leave" for the duration of notice period, additional payout equivalent to two months' salary, extension of existing medical/insurance coverage till mid-July and assistance in outplacements.

Unacademy had acquired Chandigarh-based PrepLadder, a leading post-graduate medical entrance exam preparation platform, for $50 million in 2020.

Founded by Deepanshu Goyal, Vitul Goyal and Sahil Goyal in 2016, PrepLadder prepares students for medical examinations and provides access to education services and preparation material for exams such as NEET PG, AIIMS PG, NEET SS, and FMGE.

In April, Unacademy laid off nearly 600 employees, contractual workers and educators, about 10 per cent of its 6,000-strong workforce across the group.

The company said it discussed and parted ways with the identified people, in accordance with their respective contracts.

Started as a YouTube channel in 2010, Unacademy is one of the largest learning platforms with a growing network of 60,000 registered educators and over 62 million learners.

With education being imparted in 14 Indian languages to learners across 10,000 cities, Unacademy Group comprises Unacademy, Graphy, Relevel and CodeChef.

Unacademy has entered the physical tuition centre market, and is at loggerheads with India's premier coaching centre Allen Career Institute (ACI) that has alleged that the edtech platform poached teachers from its institutes.

Unacademy is opening a coaching centre in Kota and has reportedly hired several teachers from Allen institute.

Allen Career Institute's co-founder and Chairman-designate, Brajesh Maheshwari, earlier announced to take strict action against teachers who leave the institute and join rival edtech platforms.

--IANS

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