Teens, Teachers and Tuitions….Destroying Schools one Brick at a Time
The concept of extra classes or tuition as it is more commonly referred to, has completed a full circle from developing a students academic competence to completely ruining a child's mental and psychological growth. This blog is as much about criticizing the tuition culture and it is about the role that parents have played in creating this multi billion industry.
During my teens, tuition culture was quiet prominent as well but the role that they played was vastly different from the role that current crop of classes play. Earlier, tuition classes were playing supporting role in helping the student in a particular subject that he/she was known to be weak or lagging behind. Today, the schools have almost become the supporting act and the tuitions have turned into the main cast with most of the students skipping school and college to attend these classes. I don't have too much of a problem with students going to these classes, but the timing should not coincide with the school or college. The objective of schools transcends beyond Science, English, Mathematics etc. while playing a critical role in developing a child’s cognizant skills such communication and teamwork. Speaking to the opposite sex, respect for each other’s faith and the power of teamwork are some of the character building skills that a student learns in school. The story of Tiger Woods is a perfect example of how he skipped through most of schooling in order to focus on golf and the negative impact it had on his personal life. (https://ranveerpandit777.blogspot.com/2020/12/tiger-woods-different-view.html )
Another aspect that must be considered is that if the schools are running for 8hrs (1hr for travel), if the tuitions are running for 2hrs and the homework takes up another 60 mins, when and where is the physical activity. The Physical, Psychological, Tactical and Technical aspect of an athlete are in complete sync on a field and for me that is poetry in motion at times.
Finally, the ridiculous financial disparity these classes are creating in the society is shocking. The rural area is left deprived of a level playing field in competitive examinations and schools are struggling to maintain the standard of the education because of the packages being offered by these classes to the teachers. To put into context, a school teacher gets paid approximately 25-30k for working 8hrs in a school, while the same teacher would be getting paid 35-40k for teaching a single subject for 4hrs. As of 2018, there is bill pending before the Government of Maharashtra regarding regulations being imposed on these classes pertaining to fees structure, staff qualification and location as well as timings of these tuition classes.
The objective of this blog post is to involve all the stakeholders who are involuntarily creating a dangerous environment for our next generation. Parents, Teachers, Students need to have honest conversations amongst themselves and come up with a holistic solution if not…we are going to create a generation full of obese children who would have not seen life beyond the classroom and living room.
PS : The Private Tuition Industry in India is valued at 50088 crores as of 2022 and projected to reach 1.33lakh crores by 2028.
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