The tutor and the taught

By Rachana Ramesh | NT

Now that schools have opened their gates, Manu is back o n his nine-to-four school routine. What makes his day tedious is the two-hour tuition session that follows after school. Now studying in the 10th grade and on the periphery of post-school transition, Manu’s mother Radha thinks tuitions are necessary. Though Manu studies in a private school, which is presumed to have a better quality of education compared to government schools. This is to make up for the loss of learning sustained because of online classes.

The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), facilitated by the NGO Pratham Education, released their findings culled from one of the largest surveys carried out during the pandemic. The report reveals two trends: enrolment of children in government schools has gone up and more children are now taking private tuitions. This is happening because more parents are now trying to save their money by pulling their children out of private schools and are enrolling them in government ones. At the same time, they are using their money to pay for private tuition. These two trends must be looked at separately to understand them clearly.

Enrolment in government schools has increased as the income vulnerability due to the pandemic has also risen. “If it wasn’t for his scholarship, it would have been very financially draining for us to pay the fees for a private school”, said Radha. The pandemic has taken a toll on common people’s finances and the majority have not been lucky enough to receive help. People have had to migrate back to their native places, mostly villages, where the only source of education is government schools.Secondly, the aspirational lower-middle class, which was sending their children to private schools is unable to do so now. Since they have lost sources of stable income, their budget cannot accommodate the fees of private schools. Hence they have moved their children to government schools.

The ASER report also cites an increase in private tuition. The report shows that there has been an increase in the number of students at all levels attending tuition when compared between the years 2018 and 2021. This could be due to the gap in online education, which cannot match up to classroom teaching. Students need to attend physical classes in some or the other form. Also, many parents like the attention that private coaching provides. “ Yes, there certainly has been an increase in the number of students during the lockdown. One, parents like the individual offline attention provided to students. Two, those who cannot afford school fees are opting for tuitions to appear as private candidates for SSLC. Also, preschoolers who now cannot go to school because of the pandemic, are sent for tuitions as an alternative learning space”, says Prema who runs tuition classes in Attibele.

However, the increased percentage is higher for those in Class 11 and above. The study shows a rise in tuition for Class 11 and above from 33.6 percent in 2020 and 35.5 percent in 2018 to 41 percent in 2021. The numbers being significantly more in higher classes, among children who are on the post-school transition indicates that tuition is serving as a bridge for board students who want to make up for all the lost study time. “He needs to go to tuitions because he is in the 10th grade, I would not have sent him otherwise”, said Radha, who sets aside Rs.1500 from her monthly earning for Manu’s tuition. She also likes the incentive of them being easily accessible, Manu walks to his tuitions every day. What can be deduced from the survey is that tuition is a local and flexible affair. Parents who have financial constraints can also manage to send their children for private tutoring by negotiating the fees and the time of payment which is not possible in big private schools. The tuition teachers were also much easier to access during the pandemic. However, only time can tell if this shift is a temporary phenomenon that has been noticed due to the pandemic or whether it is a more permanent shift.

The report has also been conclusive about the largest increase in the proportion of children taking tuition being found among the most disadvantaged households, where the parents’ level of education is meager. In the years 2018 and 2021, the proportion of children with less-educated parents who took tuition increased by 12.6 percent in contrast to a 7.2 percentage increase among children with more educated parents.

Unquestionably, we can say that parents have not been happy with the shift in the learning space. While opting for tuition can be seen as a consequence of switching to government schools, it has also been taken up as compensation for the poor quality of online education of private schools too.