Is Unacademy Facing A Retention Problem

Ashish Arora, senior vice president and national head of academics at Unacademy, has decided to move on from Unacademy after joining the unicorn in March 2022.  Onboarding Arora had made headlines last year, where he was deemed the 'Ultimate Mentor' by unacademy and news outlets.

While his next professional move is not yet known, Arora's Youtube channel, Physics Galaxy, has amassed over 1 million subscribers with more than 20 crore views on his exam preparation videos.

Arora confirmed the development but didn’t reveal any specific reason behind his decision to move on. In November last year, Karan Shroff, partner and chief marketing officer, resigned from Unacademy, making this the second high-profile exit from the edtech in six months. This news also comes after the announcement of Arjun Mohan's exit from upGrad. This begs the question, are edtechs facing a retention problem?

The tech industry has seen mass layoffs in 2022 that have continued into 2023. Unacademy has laid off over 1,500 employees over the last year across its multiple subsidiaries. Along with layoffs, do edtech companies need to also worry about losing talented educators and leaders?

Arora has close to 30 years of experience in IIT-JEE coaching and was associated with Allen Career Institute in Jaipur prior to joining the edtech. He has his own Youtube channel, is an author and career mentor. Under his tutelage, students have stood at top ranks in the JEE and NEET exams and made the All India Top 100 and All India Rank-1. His position would be a challenge to fill for Unacademy.

Unacademy declined to comment.

Vasudha Mukherjee

BW Reporters The author works with BW Education