Even as Alakh Pandey-led PhysicsWallah readies itself to become the first edtech startup to go public, there’s one potential challenge that can snowball into a bigger mess.

In short, PhysicsWallah has a faculty problem, with teachers alleging unfair termination, an opaque review system and a focus on student retention rather than outcomes.

According to its pre-IPO disclosures, PW underwent a restructuring exercise in FY24 and FY25, which particularly impacted faculty members. Faculty attrition rate was 18% in FY23, and then grew to 40.4% in FY24 before coming down to 26% in FY25.

Inc42 has learnt that the startup has continued to let go of faculty members on allegedly unclear grounds even in FY26.

Sources close to the company and former teachers said layoffs have happened as recently as July 2025. This by itself is not a major issue, but it’s the manner of the dismissals and terminations that have caused some consternation among teachers.

Speaking to Inc42, some faculty members said they received an email from the Physicswallah human resources team seeking “Mutual Separation” in June and July 2025.

Faculty members allege that the startup decided to terminate the contract in the middle of an academic year, something that is unheard of in the edtech space.

PhysicsWallah Vs Teachers

Some of these teachers have pursued legal action to challenge these layoffs, alleging unfair termination and breach of contract, according to emails seen by Inc42.

Emails sent to PW management from legal teams representing former employees sought compensation for the allegedly unfair termination. Moreover, the terminated employees allege discrepancies in their full and final settlements, stating that most of them received only one month’s salary instead of the two months’ pay specified in their original appointment letter.

Inc42 has also seen emails from PW’s management sent in response claiming that information about the change in notice periods for employees was published on the company’s HR dashboard. At the moment, the dispute remains open.

However, the trickle of legal notices could ultimately become a significant problem for PW in the long run. This is something the company acknowledges that teacher-student disputes and other issues concerning educators could become a major issue.

“In 2023, a video of a staff member pushing a student in one of our offline centres was circulated on social media. Based on an internal assessment, we terminated the staff member involved in this incident. In another incident in 2023, a student was seen threatening a faculty member with a slipper over a video call,” the company stated in its DRHP about what kind of action it has taken in recent disputes.

This is not the first instance where tensions have emerged between PW and its faculty members. Several media reports have highlighted ongoing challenges, primarily arising from conflicts between the teaching staff and the management.

In 2022, in a........

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