EdTech platform Unacademy has terminated a teacher named Karan Sangwan. In one of the videos uploaded for students, Karan could be heard asking students to vote for educated candidates to ensure that people don’t have to ‘endure all this again’. Without taking any names, Karan then asks students to vote for an educated person who can understand things, instead of voting for a person who only knows how to change things or change names. Unacademy sacked him calling this a breach of code of conduct.
Unacademy co-founder Roman Saini in a statement said, “We are an education platform that is deeply committed to imparting quality education. To do this we have in place a strict Code of Conduct for all our educators with the intention of ensuring that our learners have access to unbiased knowledge. Our learners are at the centre of everything we do. The classroom is not a place to share personal opinions and views as they can wrongly influence them. In the current situation, we were forced to part ways with Karan Sangwan as he was in breach of the Code of Conduct.”
The decision was widely condemned by political parties. Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said it was sad to see such spineless people run education platforms.
Those who cower under pressure and get bullied can never help nurture citizens who stand up against all odds to take on this world.
— Supriya Shrinate (@SupriyaShrinate) August 17, 2023
Sad to see such spineless and weak people run an education platform.
Care to explain this though @RomanSaini @gauravmunjal pic.twitter.com/XFUdI5YJ8m
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote, “Is it a crime to appeal to educated people to vote? If someone is illiterate, personally I respect him. But people's representatives cannot be illiterate. This is the era of science and technology. Illiterate public representatives can never build the modern India of 21st century.”
Many people took to social media and used the hashtag #uninstallunacademy in protest.