in july because he needed the money but was suspended in august for a month after he complained about aggressive behaviour by his managers he quit again in october but said he is still haunted by the actions of his managers who he says shouted at and manhandled him it got so bad that i had to seek professional help and eventually got diagnosed with anxiety said makhija who is now unemployed and looking for a job i get terrible flashbacks bjyus did not respond to a request for comment on makhijas accountlabour and it ministries did not respond to repeated requests for comment about contexts reporting while the government has raised concerns over edtech firms treatment of customers such as false advertising of products worker abuses appear to be going under the radar advocates say labour lawyers academics and workers rights experts are warning that without strict oversight employees risk bearing the brunt of unchecked exploitation as edtech startups not only byjus race to become the next big players in indias economy currently its a freeforall said economist kr shyam sundar who has written widely on labour reforms in india and is calling for regulation of the sector including a dedicated edtech policy to ensure the welfare and protection of workers in this scenario labour rights is always the first victim he addedjob insecurity reports of poor work conditions and abusive practices have emerged not just at byjus but across indias edtech industry context also interviewed three workers from vedantu two current and one former and four at unacademy presently who highlighted highpressure environments being encouraged to missell products and having their pay cut arbitrarily these employees also said there is little job security vedantu which is another bengalurubased edtech giant did not respond to repeated requests for comment a spokesperson for unacademy an edtech startup backed by japans softbank said the company strongly denied the workers accounts as a factually incorrect representation of our culture and that it was focused on enhancing and nurturing growth of every employee while labour activists are concerned about conditions across the sector byjus has faced the most scrutiny in recent years backed by tiger global one of the worlds largest hedge funds byjus was a big beneficiary of the spurt in demand for virtual learning in india during the covid19 pandemic it also attracted investment from some of the top venture capital funds and financiers like chinas tencent usbased sequoia capital and general atlantic and mark zuckerberg and his wife priscilla chans chanzuckerberg initiative to fund its breakneck growth but demand started fading with the reopening of schools and global economic uncertainty according to industry analysts the startup one of the most valuable in the world at 22 billion in september reported a loss of 5505 million for the 2021 fiscal year and revenue fell 3 as byjus faces a tougher business climate more complaints have emerged about its work culture and