The real tragedy of Lido Learning’s failure

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Editor's note: On the phone, KN’s emotions alternate between shock and anger. She keeps repeating that her husband is in the police and will not spare them. KN is a software engineer from Hyderabad. In January, she enrolled her 11-year-old son with Lido Learning—an online tutorial platform that teaches math, science, coding and English to children between kindergarten and class 12—to brush up on his English.  “I wanted to enroll him for English, but they said it would be better if I went with the full package,” says KN. “They looked nice and told us if marks don’t improve, they will refund 80% of the money.” She ended up buying a two-year course for Rs 1.26 lakh. Her experience was rather underwhelming. The classes were far below her expectations and stopped abruptly after a week. She made multiple requests—to include and complete the school syllabus, for extra classes and better focus—but to no avail.  Within 20 days, she came to know that the company was shutting down operations. KN’s worst nightmare had come true.  “They are not responding to emails. All the …