Mumbai: At the end of the day, life is all about turning even the worst of situations into your favour. A fitting example is that of Mumbai girl Abhivyakti Verma. Many of us have gone through the humiliation of scoring low marks in board examinations, but, before Abhivyakti, not many knew that this could be something that could make you a lakhpati.
After not being able to score the desired marks, she went to a consumer court, which slapped a fine of Rs 3.64 lakh on the coaching centre for being unable to fulfil its promises and the ‘mental harassment’ it caused to Abhivyakti and her family.
In addition to that, the coaching centre was also ordered to refund the fee of Rs 54,000 and bear their court expenses that amounted to Rs 10,000.
A science student gearing up for her HSC exams, Abhivyakti opted for coaching in Mathematics and Chemistry in 2013. The coaching centre she signed up for was Oxford Tutors Academy based in Andheri, Mumbai.
The academy, at the time of admission, had made tall claims of having an experienced faculty, cent per cent results… so on and so forth, much like every other tuition centre across the country.
However, it did not take too long for the institute to show its true colours. As it turned out, they failed to provide a Chemistry teacher to the student for a month. Even the Mathematics tutor the institute provided was from the Hindi medium leading to issues for Abhivyakti in coping up.
On repeated complaints by Abhivyakti's mother, a lawyer, the centre first sent a Class 8th ICSE board teacher and then an IIT student to help out her daughter in solving the Mathematics problems.
However, none of that worked out and Abhivyakti, who scored 83 per cent in Class X, failed to even score the cut-off marks required for admission into a Hyderabad-based college she wanted to go for further studies.
Highly disappointed with her results, the girl stood up against the coaching centre for not being able to provide the promised results and took legal action against it.
"The Chemistry teacher was slow in covering portions, especially in the first six months. I was weak in Chemistry and that it is why I had enrolled for coaching. I didn't know what was happening. I was tense about everything. There was a time when I slipped into depression. It was my father who helped me with Chemistry. Also, the centre replaced the tutor at the last minute. The centre is responsible for my low score," she told a daily.
Neena Verma, her mother filed a case against Oxford Tutors Academy in 2015 and the consumer court passed the judgement in her daughter's favour.
On the other hand, Diksha Verma, counsellor with Oxford Tutors Academy, squared the blame on Abhivyakti. "We have qualified teachers. The student was weak in studies. She joined the classes late and took tuitions from other centres as well, which is why she was confused. From our side, we have provided all services. In fact, the deal was for 285 hours and we gave 350 hours of service. She is yet to pay us for the extra lectures. The teacher sent to her home used to complain regularly that the student was not doing her homework. There were other complaints as well," she said.
