Debate : Tuition or No Tuition?

Snigdha Bhatta

Are extra classes actually that important? Or is it rather burdening and unnecessary? Parents send their children to take extra lessons and blame the crowded classes, lack of attention by the teachers and competitive school environment for their child’s poor performance but how justifiable is this? We asked the students at DAV

Do you think tuition is mandatory for every student, at some point of his/her life?
Sita: Every child is different and they have different needs. While some students do their best and excel in everything, few are not capable of doing so. Tuition isn’t “mandatory”, it is rather a choice that a student and their parents make together. If his performance is poor and if he can do better with just some extra attention, I think tuition would be very helpful.

Pratik: We spend at least 8 hours every day in school, except Saturdays of course. If a student really wants to study, he will do that within his school and home boundaries. Tuition is definitely not mandatory. These days, students have stopped trying a little harder and they think their tuition teachers can pull them up from the Losers’ group to the Toppers’ group. That notion is so wrong.

Tuition is a waste of time, money and energy. Do you agree?
Pratik: Of course. I will say this again; if a student pays attention in class and keeps up with his assignments, there isn’t much need for such extra classes which demand hefty amount of money. While I do agree that some students might be weak at a particular subject, I don’t understand how parents think tuition classes can make it all better. That particular student needs to focus more on that subject. He needs to do all that it takes to improve himself.

Yumid: Any sort of study activity can never be termed as a “waste”. At least a kid comes back home and gets into his books instead of doing other activities that will take him nowhere in life. There are instances where we’ve encountered weak students performing lot better after taking tuition classes. Sometimes, studying in school is not enough and if tuition classes fill that gap, why consider tuitions to be a waste rather than looking at it from a positive aspect?
Pratikshya: When a student takes tuition lessons, he not only improves but also gets to know about different learning styles. In a class, a teacher will teach everyone the same methods, the same techniques to solve a problem. But a tuition teacher will enlarge his/her horizon.

Has taking tuition classes become a “trend” among school going children?
Yumid: I certainly don’t think so. I have seen students who tend to make a lot of noise and pay very little attention during extra lessons, but the fact that they are staying inside a room for an hour or two cannot be ignored. They might take tuitions very lightly for a few days but eventually, they will pay attention. I believe students who take tuitions realize the deficiencies in them and therefore set to learn harder.

Dharmendra: It depends on the students, entirely. For the most part, teenagers tend to get influenced by their friends. If one decides to take tuition classes, he/she will try to lure his/her friends into taking lessons with them and in most cases, students feel like they should. Some even consider a tuition class as their leisure period since it lets them out of their house and tuition teachers aren’t as strict as school teachers. However, those taking tuition lessons inside their home peripheries are the determined ones, I think.

Do you blame the school and the teachers for the increasing rate of students taking tuition lessons?
Sudhir: If you should blame anyone for your performance, it is you and nobody else. I believe every one of us go to good schools with well-equipped materials and qualified teachers. If a student doesn’t concentrate in the class and gives more importance to chatting and creating chaos than studying, it is his fault and nobody else’s. However, teachers must give extra importance to the weak ones.

Sita: To certain extent, yes. Not “blame” exactly but looking from the student’s point of view, it must be hard for some to express their opinion, their discomfort, and their confusion in front of an entire mass. Teachers should be able to understand that and speak to them personally. I do understand that it must be equally tough for the teachers to give attention to each and every one of them but it is their responsibility to find out who is not performing very well.

How long do you think tuition classes should be and for how many days a week? Don’t you think taking tuition classes make a student depended towards his/her tutors?

Pratikshya: I think tuition lessons should be not more than an hour every day. Because a student comes back from school and is apparently tired from all the coursework, the long hours of tuition classes can actually prove to be a dampener to his health. About the number of days in a week, it depends on how good or poor the student is. For subjects like Maths, I guess a daily tuition class is much needed.

Sudhir: Of course. Tuition teachers basically teach their students to mug things up. They drill in them the methods and ways to answer questions and that’s all that students need to score good marks. However, after he/she passes Grade X, he/she will realize that mugging up is not how things work. Not all tuition teachers do that but for the most part; they only teach them techniques to approach questions without actually teaching them why and how. The children will then stop using his brain and rely on his tuition teacher which is definitely not good in the long run.