Days after an educator named Karan Sangwan at the e-learning platform Unacademy courted controversy by asking students to vote for ‘educated politicians’, Roman Saini, the co-founder of the ed-tech platform sacked the teacher on August 17.
Releasing his official statement on the matter, Saini on Twitter (X) said that the platform had to sever its relationship with Karan Sangwan since he had broken the terms of the agreement. Saini emphasized the fact that Unacademy is an educational platform committed to providing outstanding education. “To ensure that our students have access to fair knowledge, we have put in place a stringent Code of Conduct for all of our educators. Everything we do is focused on our learners”, he said.
Saini went on to say that the classroom is not the place to express personal opinions since it can inadvertently sway students. “In the current situation, we were forced to part ways with Karan Sangwan as he was in breach of the Code of Conduct,” Unacademy’s co-founder added.
We are an education platform that is deeply committed to imparting quality education. To do this we have in place a strict Code of Conduct for all our educators with the intention of ensuring that our learners have access to unbiased knowledge.
— Roman Saini (@RomanSaini) August 17, 2023
Our learners are at the centre of…
Meanwhile, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal raised the issue and pondered whether urging people to support educated candidates was a crime. “Is it a crime to appeal to vote for educated people? If someone is illiterate, personally I respect them. But public representatives cannot be illiterate. This is the era of science and technology. Illiterate public representatives can never build the modern India of the 21st century,” he tweeted.
क्या पढ़े लिखे लोगों को वोट देने की अपील करना अपराध है? यदि कोई अनपढ़ है, व्यक्तिगत तौर पर मैं उसका सम्मान करता हूँ। लेकिन जनप्रतिनिधि अनपढ़ नहीं हो सकते। ये साइंस और टेक्नोलॉजी का ज़माना है। 21वीं सदी के आधुनिक भारत का निर्माण अनपढ़ जनप्रतिनिधि कभी नहीं कर सकते। https://t.co/YPX4OCoRoZ
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) August 17, 2023
What did Karan Sangwan say?
Sangwan on August 13, courted controversy by asking students to vote for ‘educated politicians’. He also lauded the British colonizers for doing an excellent job by crafting the perfect statute and criticized the recently announced three new laws replacing IPC, CrPC, and the Evidence Act.
The incident happened when he was discussing the latest bills tabled in Lok Sabha by the Narendra Modi government, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and The Bharatiya Sakshya, which replace the British-era Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure and Indian Evidence Act respectively.
“It is a complete lie that the law formulated by the British has been repealed. The government claimed that they have changed the law. It is not possible. You cannot do it. The law is beautifully drafted by the British,” he could be heard saying in a video uploaded on his Youtube channel called, Legal Pathshala.
This teacher from @unacademy is frustrated because he has to do the job he is getting paid for. Therefore, he is asking people not to vote for the government that brings new changes i.e. BJP
— BALA (@erbmjha) August 13, 2023
Your entite paycheck depends on teaching and you have a problem with making notes? 🤡… pic.twitter.com/WMQT6EaOXD
On the other hand, he lamented that all the notes he had prepared on the existing criminal laws have become useless now. A segment of his rant is not available on the channel where he further complained, “Even I don’t know whether to laugh or cry because I also have a lot of bare acts, caseloads, and notes that I had prepared. It is hard work for everyone. You also got a job at your hand.”
“But keep in mind one thing. Next time vote for someone who is well-educated so you don’t have to go through this ordeal again, okay,” he asked and added “Elect someone who is educated and understands things. Don’t elect someone who only knows how to change names. Make your decision properly.” The video of his rants was posted on Twitter after which it went viral.
As reported earlier, Sangwan joined Unacademy in 2020 and has completed a master’s in Criminal Law and another Provincial Civil Service (Judiciary), according to the official Unacademy site. He has more than 7 years of experience and studied at Himachal Pradesh National Law University in Shimla. He is an expert in bare acts.
