Amazon to shut its online learning vertical in India amidst slowing edtech growth

U.S-tech major Amazon is reportedly shutting down its online learning vertical, Amazon Academy, in India in a phased manner starting next year. 

Launched in early 2021 during the pandemic-led edtech boom, the platform operated in the ‘test prep’ segment and offered virtual coaching for entrance exams, including IIT-JEE (Joint Entrance Exam) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test NEET.  

“Amazon will discontinue Amazon Academy’s operations in a phased manner, starting August 2023, when our existing batch completes its test preparation module,” the company said in a statement. The Seattle-headquartered Big Tech however said that the decision will not have any impact on its existing customers and services.  

The statement further clarified that subscribers to Amazon Academy’s content will have access to full course material online for an extended period of a year, until October 2024, the company further said, adding that it will refund the full fee to those enrolled in the current academic batch. 

While Amazon did not disclose the reason behind shutting its online learning platform, it can be attributed to the pandemic receding. The reopening of schools, colleges and tuition centres has sparked a crisis in the edtech sector with falling valuations, slowing funding rounds and faltering investor sentiment. The edtech sector witnessed a peak during the pandemic. 

The falling demand in the online learning forced many edtech companies to resort to aggressive cost-cutting initiatives including mass layoffs, shutting down of non-core verticals, deferring expansion plans, and more. Edtech companies, including Facebook and SoftBank-backed Unacademy, PhysicsWallah, Byju’s and Vedantu among others, for example, have laid off thousands of employees, combined, since the beginning of 2022.  

Amazon recently decided to cut 10,000 jobs in corporate and technology verticals globally. With India accounting for about 7% of the company’s total headcount of over 1.5 million, the layoffs exercise is expected to impact hundreds of its employees in the country. The company has been also been sent a notice by Union Labour Ministry regarding the recent layoffs in India and violating labour laws.  

Not just Amazon, in recent months almost all Silicon Valley companies have been hit hard, with major large tech companies like Meta, Twitter, Snap, Microsoft and Google, etc., resorting to cost cutting by either announcing mass layoffs, leaving tens of thousands unemployed or freezing hiring, besides, shutting down units and cutting on various employee benefits.