Unacademy's Kota teachers were among the highest-paid. They now face a pay cut

livemint.com:

Mint spoke to three senior teachers at Unacademy who, along with about 60 others, were informed of their salary cuts in mid-June over a video call . The firm that had recruited faculty members at a frenetic pace in 2022, is now facing a sluggish student admission numbers. "So far 7,000 students enrolled in Kota this academic year, versus 10,000 last year," said a senior Unacademy faculty member who has taught in the coaching centre for more than two years.

Some of the top teachers are yet to accept their new employment contract. Unacademy did not respond to Mint's emails sent on Wednesday around noon and follow-up emails for more details on Thursday afternoon. Also read | As Kota craze abates, Allen cuts pay, PhysicsWallah transfers faculty Unacademy is not the only one impacted by the drop in student numbers this year.

Allen Career Institute, one of the largest coaching centres in India, has chopped the fixed salaries for its 4,000-plus faculty and administrative staff by 20-40%. Reliable Institute, a unit of Allen specializing in coaching for top engineering schools, too, has slashed faculty pay, while rival PhysicsWallah has reassigned teachers to centres outside Kota. These shifts in Kota come on the back of a 30-40% drop in student enrolments as parents prefer to send their children in the local centres of the same coaching institutes in states like Bihar, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh.

"Those branches now have stiff targets and often dissuade the candidates from coming to Kota, which so far was the largest coaching centre," said a chemistry teacher in one of the top institutes of Kota. Also read | Unacademy moved fast to break things. It ended up with a fracture Ironically, the teachers who were roped in at high