The Union government on Thursday issued a list of dos and don’ts for the public while subscribing to tutorials and courses on various ed tech platforms. The Ministry of Education in an advisory said the decision should be well considered and offers of free services by some companies should be carefully evaluated.
“It has come to the notice of the Department of School Education and Literacy that some ed-tech companies are luring parents in the garb of offering free services and getting the Electronic Fund Transfer [EFT] mandate signed or activating the auto-debit feature, especially targeting the vulnerable families,” it said.
The Ministry strictly advised parents to not sign up for any loans for paying for content on these platforms. The applications should not be installed on mobile phones without verifying the authenticity. In case the credit or debit is registered with the app, then an upper limit on expenditure per transaction should be set.
“Do not share any personal videos and photos. Use caution against turning on the video feature or getting on video calls on an unverified platform. Keep your child’s safety at the utmost priority.”
The Ministry also advised enough precautions in the form of parent consent for any purchases, using OTP-based payment methods and avoiding clicking on pop up screens or any attachments.
Automatic debit option for payment should be avoided. The companies, the Ministry said, may offer the free-premium business model where a lot of their services might seem to be free at first glance but to gain continuous learning access, students have to opt for a paid subscription. Activation of auto-debit may result in a child accessing the paid features without realising that he/she is no longer accessing the free services offered by the ed-tech company.
The Ministry also asked the parents and the schools to read the terms and conditions carefully before acknowledging the acceptance of learning software, cautioning them that the personal data could be tracked. The subscribers, the Ministry said, should always ask for a tax invoice.
The Ministry also expressed concern over the quality of the content provided by the companies which is not vetted by any government agency. It advised that the syllabi should be in line “with the syllabus and your scope of study and is easily comprehensible by your child”.
Shivganga MP Karti Chidambaram had raised the issue in the Lok Sabha earlier this month flagging the “predatory marketing practices” by many of these platforms.
