Steer clear of the tuition trap

More and more children are under pressure to excel academically and are finding themselves trapped in the clammy grips of the tuition trap.

The boy is up by six every morning in order to reach his tuition class that starts at 7 am. By the time he gets back from tuition, there is hardly enough time to get ready and grab a quick lunch before rushing off to catch his school bus. It's usually past seven when he gets back from school in the evening.

Another hurried meal and it is time for his evening tuition, from where he gets back by 10 pm. But the day is not yet over for little Ryan, who has to struggle to keep his eyes open to complete any school assignment that might be due the next day. He usually goes to bed past midnight, but in a matter of hours his shrill alarm will go off again…

A very long and demanding day indeed for someone who's just seventeen! Unfortunately, Ryan's not alone. Nowadays, most senior school boys and girls - particularly those studying in Asian schools in the UAE, have punishing schedules that resemble the hectic agenda of busy corporate heads. Who said teen years are fun times?

We live in times where, willingly or unwillingly, youngsters submit themselves to this rigorous grind, so as to emerge as well-rounded highfliers - the kinds for whom universities and multinationals would open their gates of endless opportunities.

Gone are the carefree times when schools and universities were places where students leisurely savoured a wide variety of learning experiences. Today, more and more youngsters are under pressure to excel academically and are finding themselves trapped in the clammy grips of the tuition trap.

It's a generation desperate for success. The vast school syllabi, uninspiring textbooks and cutthroat competition leave very little room for experimenting, and very little time for fun. Or even sleep, for that matter.

Who is to be blamed for this unfortunate situation - the educators for making the learning process a painfully laborious experience, over-ambitious parents for pushing their children too hard or the students themselves for setting goals that are too high?

But then, can we really blame parents for trying to arm their children with cutting-edge knowledge and degrees that would help them to survive in a jungle of cutthroat competition?

Many middle-class parents make incredible sacrifices by spending the best part of their joint income towards private tuition (apart from regular school fees) so their children can attend prestigious colleges.

Thanks to such vulnerable parents willing to spend a considerable sum of money to secure a secure future for their children, the last few years have seen a rapid boom in the business of private tuition in the UAE.

Gone are the days when only weak students took tuition. Today, even good students opt for extra coaching to stay ahead in the race for marks and grades. Sometimes, students join tuition classes under peer-pressure - no one wants to be left behind.

Indeed, as far as teaching lessons and imparting knowledge are concerned, the formal education system has now become peripheral. For many students, schools only serve as licensed bodies that allow them to sit for their board examinations. Most students go to private tutors or coaching centres to learn how to solve problems and how to write answers that would fetch them full marks.

The important question is, aren't students suppose to learn all this and more in their respective schools from their teachers? Why do even good students need private coaching to learn things that should be routinely taught in classrooms?

Somewhere something is seriously wrong with an education system that makes it obligatory for students to seek outside help. There are several factors for this unfortunate state of affairs. Most would agree that the curriculum and the text-books followed by many Asian schools are unimaginative and uninspiring. For instance, trying to teach eight and ninth graders tough concepts such as virtual images or genetic codes sans providing proper illustration or practical opportunities in laboratories or through multimedia devices.

Even if the school is equipped with advanced teaching tools, the syllabus is too vast for teachers to take advantage of such devices. A harried teacher in a crowded classroom is more likely to rush through the syllabus rather than try innovative methods to teach abstract concepts.

So what does a student do if he or she has not followed a concept that was taught half-heartedly in class? Join private tuition, of course.

With private tuition becoming a lucrative alternative for teachers whose salaries do not always do justice to their qualifications, many teachers have now opened private coaching factories at home, churning out knowledge to batches after batches of students in an assembly line fashion. They still continue to hold their jobs in schools, but their main source of income comes from private tuition. It is not surprising they reserve their best for the private coaching sessions, where they painstakingly clear concepts that they should have taught in detail in the classroom itself!

Everybody, from the school authorities, to parents, to students are aware of the situation, but all of them are caught in the web of an educational system that places great emphasis on learning by rote. Most educators will agree that there's a serious need for a thorough revision of the existing curriculum, textbooks, teaching methods and evaluation-methods.

Until there's a system that encourages creativity, develops curiosity and imparts a thirst for knowledge, students such as Ryan will continue to pursue studies with joyless tenacity and stay trapped in the clammy grips of the tuition trap.