Tuitions : India’s parallel education system

May 14, 2008 

Spot a dozen bicycles all day everyday of the year outside a house in your street? That’s the one of the indicators a tuition is going on. My neighbor’s daughters study in the 10th Std and 5th Std at one of the most reputed institutions of this city. The school is renowned for producing state rank holders consistently, has a general perception of being very strict with the kids and parents too; has a good range of extra-curricular activities, different color school uniforms/ribbons on different days of the week with the style changing in winter and all the other things that go with convent education. I was not convent educated and all that was different about our school uniform was the canvas shoes on Saturdays for PT; so I’m completely at dark on that one. Infact, I think what a pain it must be for parents and the kids these days to get all those uniforms ready and remember which day of the week is for what color. And I’m told points are deducted if you don’t tie your hair with the white ribbon on Wednesdays. Phew..am I glad to have passed a decade and half earlier.

Anyways, so when I first moved in here two years back and the girls were a few years younger, I was astonished to see them shuttling from one tuition to another. I mean who takes tuitions in Std. 3. The girl’s parents lead a hectic social life leaving little time to coach the kids and help them with their homework. So off went the younger one to a lady who helped her with her homework and then to the next one who taught her the local language, Marathi. Tuition classes for Marathi I can understand. As a 4th grader I struggled with Kannada when we moved to Karnataka and struggled to score above 4/20. Two years later, this has all changed for the girls. The tuitions continue but at home. A private tutor spends 3 hours every evening in turns with the girls helping them with their homework, taking diction, and helping them prepare for the exam. Earlier poor performances were quickly blamed on the tutor’s incapability or inadequate attention. Hence the private attention. Affordability and availability of private tutors has made this a booming business.

Tuitions - I’m given to understand - come in different packages that suit your family’s needs. No. of kids, timin, subjects covered etc etc. It’s not cheap - that’s for sure and out of reach for most middle-class families. Yet they were willing to spend a sizable source of family income on this parallel education system. I sometimes think it is more of a mental thing than is actually required by the child. I remember I was in my 12th Std and had moved to yet another new city and new school- the 12th school in my 12 years of education and was hoping I wouldn’t have to shift mid-year. I did my 10th Std in two different boards in two different countries. So that’s my record. Anyways, when we moved to this new town in South Tamil Nadu during my 12th, every student of my class across sections was enrolled in a tuition center (there were just 3 as a matter of fact). And the admissions for these centers were over. It starts in the 11th Std itself. I was confident of making it without any tuitions and so were my parents. After all, in those growing up years kids were told those that took tuitions were not the bright ones and needed help. How naive of me to have got stuck to that philosophy. The peer pressure got onto me sooner than later when they discussed in class what was taught in tuitions than in the classroom. The rest of the class was way ahead of the syllabus and had started practicing final papers and were sharing tips on what questions to attend etc etc. So much so that they could look at a Maths trigonometry problem and tell the answer without solving it. Call it the characteristic of our educational model with primary emphasis on rote and getting every sentence word by word as printed in the text book! Mind games were played. So I finally made up my mind and enrolled in not-so-well known center just for the heck of it and that too in September only for Maths. Three days a week - just to practice solving papers. Skipped tuitions for Chemistry and Physics - the other subjects that determine one’s aggregate for getting into professional colleges. Did get my 200/200 !

The industry has grown multi-fold since. From a first grader to engineering, tuitions are offered. Some to improve English, some to help you solve mathematical problems using abacus, some for IIT and if everything is covered they come up with something new like soft skills for kids on how to talk with elders and behave with strangers for summer vacation camps. And when this ends, the aspirant parents of these kids send them off to swimming classes, skating, horse-riding and the latest one I heard was yoga. Alright I do yoga and meditation but a 7 year old child? Maybe there is something wrong with the way I see the world. Why does a 7 year old need meditation? She can’t be stressed - can she? Wasn’t going out and playing with kids her age in the playground healthier?

I dread the India Lil’ General will grow up in. I so wish we were in some small town with little exposure to all these frivolous things - a place where he can enjoy his childhood as we did and go out to play in the park every evening without accumulating one award after another in the mantelpiece for his parents to show off!

Related reading : We don’t need no education…only tuitions.

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2 Responses to “Tuitions : India’s parallel education system”

  1. Vivek Nath on May 15th, 2008 7:24 am

    BEAUTIFUL.. he he he almost felt like seeing LG running on cycle ( hope that stays that way and doesnt get replaced by scooty)… from class to class.. but I feel fine .. since I know I have no quasms of he being topper of the class from the bottom …like his famous father :))

  2. Senaida Schavone on October 23rd, 2010 9:22 am

    Long time reader / 1st time poster. Really enjoying reading the blog, keep up the excellent work. Will definitely start posting more oftenin the future.

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