Breaking free: The rise of independent educators in the post-Unacademy era

When Akanksha (name changed), a renowned teacher in UPSC circles, closed her laptop at 11PM on July 30, 2023, she breathed a sigh of relief. She had just delivered her final lecture for edtech unicorn Unacademy.

The previous three months, she recounted, involved working 16-18 hours a day. Her salary was also relatively meagre, especially given how teachers on platforms such as Unacademy often earned crores of rupees during the boom days of the pandemic while working significantly fewer hours. 

“I am passionate about teaching, but this job just drained it. More than teaching, my performance incentive was sales. A large part of my salary was linked to the sales I made. After teaching successfully for years, I started questioning my abilities, and it came to a point where I told myself, ‘I don’t deserve this’, and decided to quit very abruptly,” she said.