Countering Tuition craze through Internet

Shenali Waduge

Rich, poor or Middle class one thing common to all parents today is the tuition mania. Like it or not it has become a necessity & a social “fad” to say that one’s child takes tuition.

It has become a money spinner to the tuition teachers but an economic burden for parents whose only desire is to see that their children receive the best of education.

Why children and parents together seek the solace of tuition is because Sri Lanka’s education system remains clinging in inertia to systems that encourage “spoon feeding” knowledge upon the child and expecting what the teacher taught to be “duplicated” for exam purposes. Thus, very seldom do students actually question what is taught and instead quite happily engages in a memorizing game greatly helped by the tuition teacher who identifies key areas that need more memorizing. The system ends up systematically killing natural talents inherent in children and most of all keeps dormant their ability to come up with innovative and creative thoughts.

The argument in favor of tuition is that school hours do not sufficiently cover the curriculum & thus the only solution is tuition driven by the fact that parents wish their children to “pass” the 2 main exams in one attempt. For parents tuition raises several more questions. While only a few can afford private tuition in homes the larger number of tuition goers attend mass classes which again lead to a string of other evils that many parents end up having to face. The prevalent situation in the country too hasn’t helped anxious parents either and we see parents eagerly awaiting the arrival of their children after the tuition is over.

We need to address whether the need for tuition is to “pass the exam” or to really learn something extra? What is happening throughout the island is that no sooner the student population enters the “tuition mindset” they loose out on their own capabilities to develop their competencies and thinking skills. This eventually carries over to their undergraduate studies making them incompetent to adjust to the job market need for people with the right skills. Thus we have a very poor system that leads young adult to become frustrated as they enter the world of work which essentially demands that they immediately perform & their performance is measured upon their ability to think and to act without having to be told what to do.

Obviously we need to nurture our youth to be competent to think, the environment in which they study should certainly encourage this. The present curriculum has many drawbacks. Any encouragement of thinking skills must be essentially matched with teachers who are able and willing themselves to learn. It will be very uncomfortable for teachers who cannot entertain intelligent questions because they have not gone the extra mile to learn something outside the traditional curriculum. The fact that teachers who are uncomfortable to relearn may be one reason why changes cannot take place.

Given this situation help from other sources can help children and thus my suggestion for internet service providers as well as IT firms to come forward and introduce special packages to parents. An affordable package to homes would be a great help. Children will not have to spend time traveling from one tuition class to another, the cost may be much less since the monthly rental and internet usage charges is likely to be much less than one’s monthly tuition fees as well as the transport costs involved.

There are plenty of educational sites on the internet uniquely designed to cater to different age groups & programs that help children to nurture their thinking skills as well as gain confidence in their abilities to take on tasks assigned independently. These are all hallmarks of developing children to enter the adult world with a toolkit that would help them succeed in life. The internet providers themselves can go a step further by providing a list to parents as well. Software companies can offer easy payment schemes through banks and for those in suburban areas perhaps set up common computers that children can come along with their parents who will also be able to learn a thing or two themselves.