Climbing the ladder of education:

Is private tuition a necessary evil?

by Amal HEWAVISSENTI

A major charge levelled against the current educational system of Sri Lanka is its increasing reliance on private tuition so much so that it has become a culture.

This commercialised education is fast grabbing generations of students and parents under its mammoth wings against the backdrop of fierce competitiveness to educate and to get educated.

If we are to stay within the bounds of convention, we are compelled to accept 'school' as the basic and most important institution to provide systematic education in a country such as Sri Lanka where the free education system is in full swing.

At the same time, what plays a key role in education gained outside the school, is tuition which practically provides extra learning material and knowledge to get the better of challenges where education is concerned. Moreover, it is imperative that the students qualify themselves with well-developed discipline to take part in qualitatively well planned tuition classes prior to a competitive examination such as the GCE Advanced Level.

We are not wrong to say that the tuition culture drastically narrows down a child's freedom to enjoy his/her school life or engage in activities that his/her parents once enjoyed a few decades ago.

Thus, the new trend has posed a potential challenge to childhood and the school education of a child by making it imperative for children to imprison themselves in more learning in 'evening schools' apart from the hectic schedule of work in the (morning) school.

Meanwhile, a counter-argument is that we are light years ahead in education and the likelihood of having an extraordinary life of achievement is minimal without fulltime education however much rushed activity it might involve.

Undeniably there are pros and cons to tuition classes.

Random views expressed by people on the reliability and necessity of tuition often run counter to each other, but mirror how powerful the machinery of tuition in the country has become.

Limit of a child's capacity

Education policymakers had considered the mental capacity and psychology of a child when they restricted the child's study time at school to six hours and planned three vacations a year. That clearly spell out that a child's mental rest is as important as education itself. A senior university lecturer gave his views on the impact of private tuition.

"Today, a child wakes up for school around 5 am. He returns home when it's dark. He is so much under mental pressure that he hardly has time to peruse or at least leaf through the notes given by his teachers. The child's weekend is limited to extra tuition classes which make both school work and tuition useless. Teachers of government schools cannot be totally held responsible for this situation.

"Parents must be totally awake to their children's needs and make sure the children pursue their studies and do not go off the track. However busy they may be, the parents should not come to the comfortable conclusion that their child is well engaged in studies just because he/she goes to a 'reputed' tuition class. Parents must be fully alert to the mental and physical growth of the child. This is vital for good personality development.

"A proper education without proper discipline is useless. I don't know how far a tuition class develops a child's discipline. If parents are honest about their children's educational welfare, they should give at least two hours a day for the children to take a rest!

"Mental and physical rest will do wonders for the child and bring out the best in him/her. They should not produce an 'intelligent robot' with no emotions or feelings."

Tuition classes

Most of my interviewees for this article greeted the concept of tuition with a certain degree of cynicism. Yet, an equal number upheld the belief that the current social and educational system does not practically create an atmosphere in which children are allowed to stay at home on the excuse that frequent participation in tuition classes is mentally depressing. A leading tutor gave his views.

"I have the largest number of students attending my tuition class from this town. If you ask them why they attend tuition classes, they will simply say that most school teachers fail to make themselves clear and intelligible to the students! Today, the private tutor has to be responsible for the students' failure or success at any examination. Students and parents accept that we are always behind their success.

"To be frank, in a country where free education is well rooted, there is no need to get education for money. But something has gone wrong somewhere.

"If school teachers were concerned or interested about their teaching material or methodologies, their students would not come to us. But there are some parents who send their children to tuition classes simply because they think it is fashionable.

"Nobody can blame the parents for that.

"Ours is an educational system which has created an atmosphere where one or two marks at an exam determine a child's future. Here, what counts most is not a child's physical and mental well-being but the number of As, Bs or Cs. This is a lamentable state of affairs."

Strangely enough, some students become mentally dependent on the tuition class and the group of friends who attend it that they begin to deliberately overlook the stress, fatigue, waste of time, or financial deadlocks brought about by tuition as a result.

A girl expecting to sit her Advanced Level examination this year, states:"Tuition classes have not become a problem for me. I go to tutors for all three subjects I offer at the A/Level exam.

"I rely on tuition for the segments of study that I miss at school because of extra duties we're assigned by the school. I never say the education I receive from school is not enough. I go for tuition on Saturday and Sunday. I'm released from all domestic duties, but I do perform my duties as a prefect at school.

"It does not, in anyway, disturb the period of time that I spend with my parents.

"It is not mental stress either. My chief aim is to score the highest marks possible for university entry. To reach my goal, I'm prepared to do anything and dedicate anything."

Sick generation

Child experts agree that the sound, natural growth of a child depends on his/her daily routine that involves meals, sports, recreational activities, communication, education and social activities. A child has his/her own well-defined time period within the day to engage in at least a few of these activities which are vital for physical, mental and emotional growth. How does this latest trend for education reverse everything? A specialist consultant of a government hospital gave his views on the present predicament: "Parents should take on a greater level of responsibility in this regard. They should take care not to depress the children. But what happens today? A child is forced to take his breakfast at 5.30 in the morning though he has no appetite and take his lunch around 4.30 in the evening. This affects a child's growth.

"Instead of taking part in vital sports, he/she has to take part in educational competitions however much he/she dislikes it. Parents have put their children in to a race of education. Often parents force their children to select subjects which the children find most difficult to study in a decisive exam like the A/Levels. Parents rely too much on tuition. They may be busy, but they should find enough time to be with their children. Or else they will produce an emotionally underprivileged, self-centered generation. Society must rethink its attitude to this disastrous trend. However, parents must not forget that children need to enjoy their childhood to the utmost. They should not be restricted to academic work alone. Otherwise, a sick generation will come out as citizens of the country."

Standards - a must

Next I asked a teacher of science for his own view point of tuition culture. "Undoubtedly, education has turned out to be the one and only ladder of success. We see that parents are prepared to do anything to give a social prestige to their children. This "tuition class culture" is visible from preschool to university level. Within that particular culture, a group of teachers and a group of students have emerged. Even the parents are not selective about classes. Certain teachers who have specialised in a particular subject, give tuition in a completely different subject. Pre-schools are opened by unqualified personnel as casually as shops are opened.

"But we cannot totally reject tuition because it has already been integrated in to society. It has become a tradition in education now. We should accept that most tutors are clever and talented, but have no time or opportunity to pay individual attention to students in large classes the way schoolteachers do. Most students go to tuition classes simply to break free from home or to start romantic affairs. They use their freedom to the utmost. Above all, there should be a standard in tuition classes. Otherwise, innocent children will have to pay dearly."

Finally, this is how a mother of a tuition-goer responds to the concept of tuition. "When my children are at home, they're always glued to the TV or playing outdoors. They do not focus on studies. I send my son to a tuition class for English. Inside the tuition class, they are more inclined to studies. I don't think the education they get from school is inadequate. But already we are caught in a powerful trend. We can never win this competition with only school education in hand. Today's children are very mischievous and rude. They should realise that studies come first. Play and other recreational activities are only secondary. They can play any time in their lives. But they have only one chance of gaining a good education. That is why we should encourage them to engage in quality education."