Part 8 of 17 in The Byju's Files← Part 7Part 9 →
📚 This is part of The Byju’s Files — my full, ordered collection on how India’s biggest edtech company rose and fell, and what parents and founders should learn from it.
Why do we confuse Edutech app like Byju’s with online learning or Digital education ? Online learning allows children to explore resources for themselves , and doesn’t restrict them by teaching only what’s in the syllabus , or what’s going to be asked in the exam !
The goal of online learning was to encourage children to think for themselves – not to spoon feed them. It allows children to explore their own interests – and even to create their own educational content !
By wasting money on apps like Byju’s, we end up jailing them in the Byju’s box – which is great for Byju’s – but not for our children !
Update — 2026. When I first wrote this, Byju's was India's most valuable startup, worth around $22 billion. It has since collapsed. Its investors wrote the value down to near zero, its auditor and independent directors resigned, it defaulted on a $1.2 billion loan, and it was pulled into insolvency proceedings. Thousands of the young people it hired were let go. I take no pleasure in having been right — the human cost was real. I've gathered the whole story, in order, in The Byju's Files.
What the heck is that photo?!