"I apologise to them, we'll compensate for it": Byju Raveendran on disruption caused to students

Byju Raveendran, founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ed-tech company BYJU'S, has extended apologies for the disruption caused to students due to the company's distress and vowed to compensate them.

In an interview with ANI, Raveendran said that he feels sorry for those few students who missed out because services were disrupted.

He further clarified that the disruptions occurred in August last year and that the product segment remained unaffected.

"There were millions of students who got our product. Happily learn from the product and finish their courses with the product. The disruption is, if you ask me, the disruption which happened unfortunately, and that's where I like to apologise to all those students. Even if it's one student, it still cannot happen," he said.

"I'm still thinking of how to compensate for those few students. Now this few is not one or two; it's a few thousand students who missed out because of the disruption. When did the student disruption start? Only from September. Because even in August, our last few crores which we had paid to teachers. But this kind of insolvency process, which is a rigged process, never happens. That's where you stop paying teachers. So the glass went and took a stay to make sure that salaries are not paid. That's not the objective of any bankruptcy law. So I feel sorry and I'm apologising to those few students who missed out because services were disrupted," he added.

"The product part was not disrupted. The entire course. In fact, when things were going very well for us, unlike, we were not ruthless in cutting the businesses down because you can't do that when it comes to students. You have to see the course completion, so we didn't do it. When suddenly all the investors who were asking us to grow, grow, grow - overnight - told us that, okay, markets are changing, now cut and shut down businesses. I didn't agree to that," Raveendran further said.

Raveendran further emphasised that completing the course remained the top priority despite the company's challenges. "We didn't shut down the businesses. We had to complete the course. Once you make a commitment to complete the course, you have to finish the course. Even if one student has missed out in the last six months, I will, like today, apologise to them, but we'll compensate for it.

"When asked about BYJU'S 3.0, he stated that the goal is to inspire a love for learning in students, staying true to the model the company followed in its early days.

"It's going to be the same. How do we make it easy and interesting for students? How can we use AI not to replace teachers but to enable teachers to become better teachers? How can we move the bottom quartile of students to the next one or to the next one?" he said, stressing the need to introduce artificial intelligence in the products.

"I'm coming back to the fact that there are more students who are on a BYJU'S platform today than two years back. We get across our platforms that we get 250 million students coming to our platforms. That's five times more than anyone who's the, if you can even call them a competitor.... Unfortunately, and that's why I owe it to them in terms of giving them something when we make a comeback. So, they are working with no salaries," the BYJU'S CEO said.

"They are teaching. They are core believers in the mission; those who are actually in the last 12 months, in the background, are building the BYJU'S 3.0. I am not in a position to disclose what that is going to be. I can assure you that it will again be built on the same mission, which is to create a love for learning for students," he asserted.

He further said that for the first time, there is an opportunity to have, to almost productise, the services part of it in terms of having one personal tutor for every student. "There is an opportunity because of what the AI is already able to do," he added.

Highlighting the technology that helps build a sustainable model, he said, "Today, the current technology allows you to build and create high-impact offerings with a very lean team.

So, we are going to build this in a very sustainable way by taking a long-term view, like bringing in external capital only when it's absolutely necessary."