Its board exam season and fear of faring poorly in the examinations as is a concern for most students especially those who have failed to enrol themselves in private tuitions. Their worry is genuine as private tuition at present has not become an indispensable part of the teaching-learning process but also assumed to be the key to success.  

 

The thought of success in cracking competitive examination without undertaking tuition or coaching of some sort is almost unthinkable. Competition is at a new high.  Coaching and private tuition for competitive examinations appear to be fine but coaching or private tuition as a business model has seeped through to elementary levels too. This is where it has become a cause of concern.

 

The phenomenal rise of coaching centres has its cradle in the tremendous expansion of the government school sans its system. Somewhere, the process learning had been traded off. With increase number of schools and teachers, the quality has not shown any improvement; rather it’s showing a declining trend.  Rise in numbers of schools and fall in quality is a paradox that has been the main reason for the boom in private tuitions and coaching centres. 

 

Researchers and policy makers are struggling to find ways to improve learning levels in a systemic way. According to the United Nations Development Programme’s Public Report on Basic Education in India report 1999, as many as 70 per cent of students go for private tuition in urban India.

 

However the dilemma of private tuitions took on a different angle with the introduction of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act. Section 28, RTE Act 2009 states that, “No teacher shall engage himself or herself in private tuition or private teaching activity”, banning all teachers, irrespective of whether they work in government or private elementary schools, from taking private tuition.

 

There is no telling whether there are any abiders.

 

In many instances, it is the school teacher who also provides private coaching or tuition after school hours. This creates a potential distortion in teacher incentives. It is quite possible for these teachers to finish only part of the syllabus in the classroom and generate demand for their own tuition outside the classroom. As a result, the students who don’t demand these tuition more so if they cannot afford it are clearly worse-off.

 

We must not forget that if there is black, there is white and to paint all a shade of grey will be unfair. Many states have banned private tuition for government school teachers but it will be unfair for the government to turn a blind eye to its own shortcomings; the shortcomings that has triggered the tuition business.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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