Online learning platform Unacademy has courted controversy for describing tribal people as “brainless” in one of their UPPSC examination preparatory videos.
In a video on geography – Mission IAS 2021 | Geography by Siddharth Sir | Biomes – Unacademy teacher Siddharth Singh was heard saying that tribal people do not have brains. The teacher was explaining Jhum cultivation to his students.
“The Jhum cultivation practice is often followed by tribal people. They often don’t have brains and nor have any official land documents…” the teacher was heard explaining in Hindi.
Social media users soon pointed out the racist comments by the Unacademy teacher. The video was taken down as we publish this report.
A woman from Arunachal Pradesh, Heenu, who took note of the video and posted about the same on Twitter, said: “Calling out @unacademy and Siddharth Arora (later identified as Siddharth Singh) for an unconditional apology for him on his unacceptable derogatory remark on Tribals. Seeking for a public apology ASAP.”
Here’s the full video. @unacademy
Apologize or we must take action again your portal and siddharth arora.
Courtesy: @sarcasticassame pic.twitter.com/l1PydmawaJ— Heenu🌼 (@HChrips) September 24, 2021
“Tell him to bring in some knowledge about the country and then make IAS. How easily the so-called educated educator gave that remark that too on an online learning platform and on YouTube and Unacademy publishing it. Don’t you say you are the ‘biggest’ learning platform,” tweeted Sunny Bori.
There was no official word from Uncademy on the said video till the publishing of this report.
This is not the first time that an online learning platform has courted controversy on topics related to the Northeast region. Last month, learning platform ‘Gradeup’ published a video that mentioned Assam’s ‘gamusa’ as an animal. The platform later expressed regret.
