Private tuition: Some recommendations
Mr. "A" is a teacher of mathematics in a government high school situated in the heart of a district town. He joined the teaching profession in 1994. Now, he lives in his own home built with a large sum of money earned from private tutoring. He starts his day with the first batch at dawn, and carries on with private teaching till evening. He has a lot of batches, each comprising thirty to forty, or at times fifty, students. He receives Taka five hundred from each student in exchange for the light labour done only three days a week.
Like Mr. "A," there are a lot of teachers who earn not less than Taka fifty to seventy thousand per month. But can they impart effective education to budding-aged learners considering the big batches and the short span of time spent with them? The answer is -- in no way is it possible. Look around and you will see so many Granduates/Masters teaching English to the H.S.C and degree students. These Graduates/Masters with no certificate in English have been carrying on private tuition from dawn to dusk, even during the college period, which is neither lawful nor desirable for a developing nation like ours.
Observations made so far indicate that most of the college students throng the residences of non-English teachers enthusiastically, instead of attending classes. These non-English teachers find private teaching a very lucrative job, and discourage the students from attending classes in the educational institutions saying: "if you receive education from us, you need not go to the teachers of your colleges." The question that arises is, how do they make the learners believe the false pledges made by them? Their modus operandi (techniques) is to hang a lot of banners and posters, distribute gifts to those who rush to them, go for picnics with the students, and visit their houses and get acquainted with their guardians.
Many guardians, viewing such novel moves as being very important for their wards, enthusiastically send their sons/daughters to them. They then feel somewhat free from the anxiety which grips them as regards the results in the examinations. Experience shows that their sole dependence on those non-English teachers utterly fails to fulfill their desires, because this way they gain nothing other than unsuccessful sons/daughters, not only in the examinations but also in acquiring the knowledge necessary to survive.
The quality of these teachers not being up to the mark, it is impossible for them to impart quality education. This casts an adverse effect on the country's English education at the HSC and the tertiary levels, which are very important levels in the educational arena. What qualities these teachers have does matter, but more disappointing is that they remain busy with so many batches, each consisting of thirty to fifty students. This practice is really harmful, rather than being helpful. Hence, imparting quality and effective education is quite impossible for them.
In order to develop the nation, quality education must be ensured on top priority basis. It is also necessary to keep pace with the growing needs of the time. The nation can in no way lag behind in English education, since English is the lingua franca used all over the world in trade and commerce, education, science and technology and what not. Rather it should stress on the growing need for taking time-befitting measures to repair the havoc done from time to time due to perpetual neglect shown by every government.
Top priority should have been given to English education for the greater interest of the nation. Exclusion of grammar from the syllabi prescribed for the lower levels to the higher ones in the past, and also at present, account for the disappointing state of teaching and learning of the subject. But damage which has already taken place can seldom be repaired.
Japan and China, being self-reliant nations, seldom use English as they do not have to sponge on foreign aid and technology. But, of late, they have also started stressing on the need for mastering English, probably to make sure that they are not less than what US, Germany, Britain, or France are. I have come in close contact with some Japanese who are very good at English.
Recently, a vernacular editorial presented a very gloomy picture. It is about the long-standing dearth of English teachers, whom the educational institutions need most. The picture the editorial depicted under the heading "4000: 1" is worrying, no doubt. The tale is, a government college having four thousand students has been running for a long time only with one English teacher. Such news items are not new, they are age-old. Through many write-ups, we've tried to bring these problems to the kind notice of the government, but our labour, as it appears, has proved to be tiresome drudgery.
However, let us move on to the main objective of this article -- advantages and disadvantages of private tuition.
The tradition of private tutoring, particularly in English, Physics and Chemistry, is very old. Miss Hanan Wafia Zaman, now working as English teacher in Tokyo, carries on private tuition responding to the pleas made by the guardians of some students. This practice is also very common in our neighbouring states India, Nepal, Bhutan. It is wide-spread in India, starting from the lower levels to the higher levels, but teachers involved in this job are very careful about the outcome of their labour. They do not take up large batches of students and do not ignore the interest of the learners.
These days, the syllabi prescribed for the students at the HSC and tertiary levels are large enough, covering a wide range of grammar items. In no way is it possible to complete these in the academic sessions. Hence, private tuition is a must, both for the learners and the teachers, but there must be certain rules and provisions to check the unbridled system of going on at will.
Here, it needs mentioning that many people treat private tuition as coaching. They are quite different from each other in respect of aims and structural forms. Coaching centres have branches in different places/districts, and are manned by people who work as agents, and who at times are assigned to do the job of teaching. A Herculean task, indeed, for them to do. Those who run coaching centres never bother for improving the country's education. Their main objective is to earn as much as they can, cheating the society in the name of providing higher quality education. It is the capital city which is the breeder of such lucrative business, where its mushrooming growth goes on unabated as the government has not yet made any rules for them to follow.
Recommendations:
One, it should be made sure that no private tuition takes place during the class period of the educational institutions.
Two, no teacher should teach a batch comprising more than ten to fifteen students.
Three, they should teach four to five days a week instead of three days.
Four, they can receive only Tk. three hundred from each student as fees.
Five, it must be made sure that the students are learning all that they go to the teachers for.
We do hope that the caretaker government will take the above recommendations into consideration, with a view to bringing transparency in the education sector as well.
Mosharraf Hossain teaches English at Sarail Degree College, Brahmanbaria.
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