Private tuition and coaching: Here and there
Kazi Mohua
How to keep my child ahead of others? This one question is keeping countless parents -- the educated ones mostly -- sleepless at night and worried by day while helping the private tuition and coaching businesses stay afloat. Regardless of economic conditions, we try to provide them everything deemed necessary to keep them ahead. Now-a-days, the modern, highly engaged helicopter parents start cherishing high academic ambitions for their children, even when they can barely stand on their feet. This ambition gathers momentum as the child grows up.
In countries where economy is still not the strongest, the rule of thumb is to invest more on education. Unfortunately, our government seems more interested in cutting the budget in education sector. The allocation in this fiscal year was slashed by 1.5 percent from that of the previous fiscal. Does this mean our education system has reached such a standard that we can now direct our resources elsewhere? No, absolutely not.
This means the government is compromising with the need for quality education for our children, which eventually comes as a boon for the private tuition and coaching businesses. But is budget cut the only reason behind the rise of this gloomy trend?
What made private tutoring and coaching, as they say, a shadow education system? This industry is booming not only in Bangladesh, but across the world as well. Competitive parenting has given this business a huge boost in recent years. Whether its just some regular exam or admission test for some big-shot institution, parents all over the world want to ensure that little extra care for their kids.
In numbers
Over one-fifth of all primary school students received private tuition in 2000, says Education Watch, a population-based study in Bangladesh. It shot up to 38 percent in 2008 and the percentage kept going higher with higher classes to reach a baffling 80 percent in Class-X.
A Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics study in 2006-2007 found a total of 5,499 private coaching centres in the country and only 7 percent of those had government approval. You can easily guess what the situation is in 2015.
Dont start to blame our education system now. Its a global phenomenon. Global Industry Analysis (GIA), a market research firm, projects the worldwide tutoring market to surpass $102.8 billion by 2018. According to the GIA, this market is driven by the failure of standard education systems along with the growing desire of parents to secure the best possible education for their children in the global competitive market. In some of the European countries with quite good education systems, there are tutors who earn up to $2,300 an HOUR. Yes, thats a four figure sum!
Parents, Pressure, Procrastination
Coaching and tutoring grabs the most attention of the helicopter parents who have no limits to their involvement in their childrens life. Its not because they feel that schools are not doing a good job; rather its because they are desperate to gain a competitive edge. The extra pressure of getting good grades or getting admitted in a good school cuts the time a child should spend on his leisure pursuits. It appears that the parents, not the children, are the ones who needed some tutoring. But unfortunately, those who need it the most are not usually the ones to get it.
Fear and guilt have been the most powerful motivators for ages. My neighbour is hiring that teacher ... My friend is doing that ... Why am I ruining my childs future by not doing those? These questions keep popping up in our mind and start ruling our decisions even before we know it. And we move heaven and earth to put our children in a life thats not theirs.
Parental anxiety has been the most common feature of this century. This is the same affliction that makes parents freak out over petty issues like their children failing to make it to the school debate team or to win the first prize in some art competition. As a result, they start relying on coaching centres, inadvertently limiting their scopes for understanding the contents and contexts of their texts and for bettering their intellectual faculties. Also their self-reliance and problem-solving capabilities, two key features that shape their characters, are compromised.
A better job, a bigger house or an imported car are not enough for the parents now. Having brighter, sharper children these days matters more than all those.
To ban or not to ban?
Since independence, Bangladesh is struggling to check private tutoring and coaching businesses. Countries like South Korea and Mauritius also tried it. In 2009, the South Korean government took measures to limit the number of hours students spent in coaching centres. But it had limited impact as many tutorial classes went online.
As long as there is demand, there will be supply. Attempts to ban these businesses without eliminating the root causes will only result in their return, perhaps in a different and cleverer format. However, the government has already introduced some measures (i.e. creative questions in exams) to decrease students reliance on private tutors or coaching centres.
But are we doing enough? Who is our education system benefiting the most -- the coaching centres and private tutors, the ever anxious parents or the students? Whom should it actually benefit? These questions may have multiple answers and its the government that has to find the right one.
Change in an existing system will always hurt some people and benefit some. But its high time we set our priorities straight and laid out our plans for a cause far greater, far bigger than anything else -- a better tomorrow for our children.
The writer is a senior journalist of Independent Television
