Shutters down at Brilliant Tutorials

Unable to pay its teachers due to financial issues,IIT-JEE coaching giant Brilliant Tutorials has indefinitely closed its Delhi branches,leaving many students worried.

Students who had expected classes to resume on November 1 after the Diwali holidays said they received text messages about the postponement of resumption of classes but later found out that the centres had been shut. A notice at the tutorials office in Kalu Sarai stated that a final decision on the resumption of classes would be taken by November 9.

Admitting to issues in running the coaching programme in Delhi-NCR,Srinivasan,formerly a consultant with the tutorials who was speaking on behalf of Managing Director Dr Vasanti Neelakantan,told Newsline that the companys contact classes programme,mainly based in its North Indian centres,have been affected due to internal issues,including non-payment of salaries.

Operations in Delhi-NCR have definitely been affected as teachers are not taking classes. But attempts are underway to solve the issue and the management hopes that classes will resume by the middle of this week, he said.

The company conducts contact classes in 14 cities in India and also runs an extensive distance education programme. There are eight centres in NCR: six in New Delhi and one each in Gurgaon and Noida.

Parents of students enrolled with the Chennai-based coaching firm said they have filed a complaint with the Malviya Nagar police station which,police officials said,has been forwarded to the Economic Offences Wing EOW.

Before Diwali,teachers told students that they had not been getting their salaries. When classes did not resume after Diwali,we went to the centre and found the place closed,and many parents gathered there. Students from places like Bihar,Haryana who have come for coaching said they had been enquiring but got no answers. Parents have decided to meet at the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions office on Tuesday with their complaint, said T D Krishnan,a parent whose daughter is enrolled at the companys Kalu Sarai coaching centre for an IIT-JEE coaching course.

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After scholarship,the family had paid Rs 82,000 for two years of coaching classes,down from the full amount of Rs1,32,000,Krishnan said.

Neerja Jain,who teaches at one of the Delhi centres,said the company hadnt paid its staff for the past three months.

We have been working without pay. The teachers were not informed about the shutdown untill the end of Diwali break, Jain said.