The Use and Abuse of Private Tuition

Private tuition as against what is being done in regular school is resorted to, in certain cases where the pupil is not able to follow his lessons well and wants to improve his performance. In some cases the parents want to make their child sit at his studies and in others, it is a matter of prestige.

Whatever the reasons may be for private tuition, it can certainly complement and supplement the class work provided the teacher and his ward cooperate. It can be complementary when the lessons done in the class have not been fully understood by the student and he may have to be told more than to impress upon, him for the lesson done in the class may not have caught his brain. For this reason, tuition at home may be the answer.

Generally, a classroom is not conducive for individual teaching. The teacher-pupil interaction highly spoken of is not possible in the class. A teacher normally tries to avoid a dull student. So, such a student may fail to catch the eye of the teacher. In such cases, private tuition may be helpful. The pupil may not only be taught but also be made to work at exercises which they would normally avoid in class. If the tuition master is earnest, the pupils can progress and improve gradually.

Some of the topics that are not covered in the class or which require supplementary reading could very well be done in the tuition hour. Additional exercises could be done, better reading is possible which may lead to better comprehension. Discussion and dialogue may lead to better understanding.

Private tuition becomes necessary where the student would not be capable of sitting at his studies by himself because he has no inclination or the parents have no time to look at their child’s academic progress. Most pampered children need a private tutor as a permanent feature.

From the examination point of view, some may seek tuition. The students who want to achieve very good results in competitive courses may resort to tuition. This has become a common practice for getting seats in medical, engineering, and technological courses. An ordinary classroom lecture does not cater to the needs of such students. For many aristocratic families, it is a prestige to arrange for tuition in music and dancing.

Let us now look at the abuses. Tuition may lead to too much pampering and may kill the self-effort of the student. The student would not touch the book unless the tuition master turns up. Instead of working and learning on his own, he becomes so dependant on the tuition master that ultimately the gain would be perceptibly nil.

There are also pupils adopting devious means through the tuition masters to get a pass. The poor tuition master makes himself cheap and worries more about the promotion of his ward than about his own children. Often, it is not uncommon to see a boy having more than one tuition master for each one of his subjects. Because he plays for the tuition, he looks down upon the poor teacher who is likely to lose his dignity.

But one fact that stands foremost is that tuitions cannot be thorough learning and at best there can only be nibblings of the learning process as the student has recourse for likely questions that may come in the examination through the tuition teacher.

In order to avoid the evils of private tuition, educational institutions themselves may arrange tutorial classes. If the regular teachers cannot attend the tutorials special tutors may be appointed to attend to very small groups of needy students. Such contacts may help build confidence in the student. Such tutorial classes may be complementary as well as supplementary. The tutorial system when properly organized will go a long way to improve the efficiency of the student.