Govt. issues guidelines for self-regregregulation

The central government warned of unfair business practices and self-regulation if self-regulation doesn't work, then the government will formulate stringent guidelines.

The Secretary of the Department of Consumer Affairs, Rohit Kumar Singh, met with the self-regulatory organization India Edtech ConsortiumEdtech Consortium IEC, which is overseen by the Internet and Mobile Association of India IAMAI Members of the IEC, including UpGrad, BYJU'S, Unacademy, Vedantu, Great Learning, WhiteHat Jr. and Sunstone, as well as representatives of IAMAI.

During the meeting, Singh stated that issues were discussed extensively relating to misleading advertising for the ed-tech sector and unfair business practices. The Secretary also talked about how to protect consumer interests in India's ed tech ecosystem.

The government issued an advisory to citizens regarding the use of caution against edtech companies that support online and remote learning in the month of December last year. The Ministry of Education advised parents, students, and all stakeholders in education to exercise caution when choosing to use online content and coaching provided by domestic ed tech firms.

The Indian start-ups comprise the IEC, which represents 95 per cent of the Indian learner community. The participants talked about how the Indian Ed-Tech ecosystem needs to be improved to protect the interests of consumers by providing smooth, transparent, and workable consumer offers, as part of the agenda.

The Secretary has been reported that some advertisements and activities don't seem to follow accepted norms and applicable laws. He stated that it is important to work together in order to maintain robust checkpoints that align with the consumer's interests.

The problem of more and more fake reviews was a concern that was addressed during the meeting. Recent research from the Advertising Standards Council of India ASCI indicated that the education sector committed the most advertising code violations between 2021 and 2022.

The industry representatives gave the Secretary an update on the IEC's development and direction of current initiatives to improve learner care and awareness.