FIITJEE closure: Noida parents file police complaint to seek fee refund

Several centres of well-known coaching institute chain FIITJEE across Delhi-NCR and Uttar Pradesh have shut their doors without warning in the past few days, leaving students and parents in limbo.

Among the prominent coaching centres to be closed are several in Delhi’s Laxmi Nagar and Noida's Sector 62, as well as in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut, Ghaziabad, Lucknow, and Varanasi, according to an Indian Express report.

Needless to say, the sudden closure of these branches has left hundreds of parents fuming, and many have filed police complaints to demand a refund of the hefty fees that FIITJEE charges, a Noida police official said on Thursday. Among the charges lodged against the management and owners of FIITJEE are criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust, a police official is quoted as saying in a video posted to social media.

The crisis in the top coaching centre chain comes amid speculation over the institute’s financial crisis and troubles owing to fresh administrative and civic action against its branches for violating licensing and fire safety rules.

In cities like Noida, Ghaziabad, Meerut and Bhopal, parents of FIITJEE students have filed multiple police complaints, while the coaching institute’s well-known south Delhi branch at Kalu Sarai near IIT-Delhi has been forced to suspend a few classes owing to an exodus of teachers who were allegedly not paid for several months.

Readers may recall that in December 2024, a viral video emerged on social media, purportedly showing FIITJEE founder and IIT-Delhi alumnus D.K. Goel abusing an employee during a group video call when the latter dared ask, very timidly, if (and how) the company actually had the money to invest in some other edtech venture when its own employees were not being paid on time.

On Thursday, a police complaint was also filed in Noida's Sector-58 after the closure of the FIITJEE centre in Sector 26, without fee refund. A parent who had recently deposited a Rs 4 lakh fee said, “An outgoing FIITJEE teacher told us that most faculty members are leaving as they have not been paid salaries for several months.”

Ghaziabad’s district inspector of schools Dharmendra Sharma had recently highlighted the fresh drive launched under the UP Coaching Regulation Act (2002) against unregistered institutes, though why this should affect a company like FIITJEE, set up in 1992, is not yet clear.

While social media was awash with videos of parents protesting outside the institute’s now-shut branches and police stations, several more videos issued by the company’s top management and unpaid faculty members have begun emerging.

The brewing crisis seems to have precipitated just after the end of the academic session for students appearing on 22, 23 and 24 January for Session-1 of JEE Mains — the entrance exam for engineering colleges and preliminary tests for IIT admission.

As of now, FIITJEE reportedly has 72 centres across 41 cities, and over 300 employees. Some parents said they were taken aback by text messages sent to them by FIITJEE centre heads starting Monday, about the closure of their wards’ centre. A parent from south Delhi said some teachers had forewarned them about a possible shake-up owing to the management’s alleged financial lapses and disputes with franchisee centre heads.

“The teachers, most of whom are IIT-ians themselves, had been forced to look for other job options and they decided to move out after the end of the current academic calendar for IIT aspirants,” said a parent outside the Kalu Sarai outlet in Delhi where he had rushed to inquire about the crisis and its impact on classes.

The chain of coaching institutes, specialising in engineering entrance exam training, also offers NEET entrance coaching and even has centres in other countries.

Vivek Tyagi, president of the Ghaziabad Parents’ Association, told The Hindu, “Parents have been worried since this is the peak season for competitive examinations. They had filed an FIR a few days ago and there has been no official response from FIITJEE. Parents have also deposited hefty advances.” He added that after Ghaziabad, parents in Noida have also filed similar complaints.

The Hindu also quoted Noida-based parent Avinash Kumar as saying, “We had enrolled our child in FIITJEE, and now it has been shut down. We have come here to file an FIR... Management (of FIIT JEE) is not picking up their phones. They are all frauds. They should return our money. The government should take cognizance of this matter as it is a question of my child’s future.”