IN just a couple of days' time, school will reopen.

It's this time of the year when anxious parents and students seek the best tuition teachers in town to help them excel in their year-end public exams.
To ensure their children are not left behind, parents send their precious children for tuition. Today, one can see the number of tuition centres mushrooming in every new housing estate. Parents and students race to register themselves at the best centres. What triggered this phenomenon? Are school teachers not playing their role? Or are parents and students just plain kiasu (afraid to lose out)? A few days ago, I received a text message (SMS) from a parent. She wanted me to look for a tuition teacher for her daughter who will be in Form Five next year. She even had the audacity to tell me to look for a teacher who is currently teaching in a government school and must be an examiner! Her criteria of choosing a tuition teacher is that the person must be patient and able to explain well on subjects that her child does not understand. Being an English Language lecturer, I told her I will try my best. The quest to obtain better results has led some parents to push their children into attending tuition classes. But there are some students who take extra classes out of peer pressure or to be better prepared for their examinations. Call it what we may -- a burden on students, a parallel education system. Necessity in the face of intense competition or simply extra help, the point remains that the tuition culture has carved a niche for itself, a very big one, here in Johor. And it is a multi-million ringgit industry. And it's not just the teachers that are in the game, but also private operators, with tuition centres bigger and better equipped than some private colleges. They are sprouting everywhere. Former Universiti Malaya's Professor Emeritus of Malaysian History Datuk Dr Khoo Kay Kim pointed out, "In the past the need for tuition classes did not arise as teachers were then well-trained and could provide the best education during school hours." What bothers me is that, if we cannot rely on teachers to handle a method of teaching that is straightforward, what about teachers who excite children with new and innovative ideas? How many of our teachers are equipped to understand lateral and divergent thinking? Can they make our children yearn for knowledge? In former days, only weak students would be sent for tuition, and it was humiliating for parents to admit that their child required help outside the classroom. Not any more. Now, even the brightest sparks attend private tuition to get an edge over the rest and land a string of As. But ask parents why their children are being shuttled for tuition and their answers will revolve around the education system and the quality of teachers. But there are some students who take tuition out of peer pressure or to be better prepared for their examinations. A mother, identified only as Teresa, sends her three children to tuition centres, and does not mind ferrying them around. "It is our responsibility to provide the best for our kids," she said. "My son hates school but after going for tuition, he has shown a lot of interest in his studies," she added. Teresa got to know about the centre through recommendations from her children's friends who go for tuition there. "School teachers usually cannot finish the syllabus because they are busy with other matters. So we need tuition," said Teresa's 17-year-old daughter Janice.

According to estimates, at least 90 per cent of students in urban areas attend tuition classes and about 50 per cent of teachers resort to giving tuition to earn extra income. Furthermore, tuition centres also prefer government teachers who are either examiners, textbook or revision book writers, or even teachers who are in the panel of setting government examinations such as UPSR, PMR, SPM or STPM. Prominent teachers in Johor Baru alone are said to be charging high fees. But, parents are not complaining and willingly get their children to attend. Despite the increasing cost of tuition fees, parents have no choice but to seek private tutors and tuition centres to help their children better understand what is taught at schools. And, if a family has five children taking tuition, that could cost about RM1,200. Chances are we will continue in this direction, fuelling a system that will eventually lead to a total collapse of the education system if not treated with urgency. It is about time that educationists, policymakers and think-tanks put their heads together in the best interest of the nation. Knee-jerk solutions and lack of will to think of the bigger picture will only set us all back eventually. Otherwise, we might as well privatise all schooling.

Read more: Tuition classes are big business - Johor - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/streets/johor/tuition-classes-are-big-business-1.192240#ixzz2fJOHiw32