Call India, if you need help with your lessons
NIMI KURIAN
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That American kids are finding math difficult has come as a boon for teachers in India. Quick to fill the gap, today India outsources tuitions — and successfully at that.
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E TUITION: Connect and teach. PHOTO: K.K. MUSTAFAH.
Most parents will remember the innocuous tuition teacher who came home to teach Hindi or Math. His classes were bunked, his work was not done, and many were the tricks played on him. Fast-forward to today and tuition teachers are smart and tech savvy with no time to waste, for every minute of their tutoring time is worth a few dollars!
Luckily for India, more and more American children are having difficulty in grasping the nuances of Math. India, with a surfeit of educated and talented people has stepped in to repair that loss. Several Indian companies like Career Launcher and Educomp Datamatics have successfully launched their e-tutoring classes. The teachers are first put through certain tests to guarantee that the quality of teaching is maintained. Says Anirudh Phadke, of Career Launcher, "We get teachers to do a series of tests to check their academic concepts and teaching capability. They are also given time-bound tests and then contacted over the telephone to check their communication skills."
Double check
"To ensure that students know what they are getting into, we give them a 15-minute free session, so that they get a feel of the `class'," says Shantanu Prakash, CEO, Educomp Datamatics. "If they are satisfied then they enrol, and most often they do." According to him, the fall out of e-tutoring would be that the teaching profession in India will get a boost. And more people would opt to become teachers, as now the benefits were many. Now, it is less stressful with definitely more money. Depending on the course or the level of the student the rate could be anywhere between $20 and $40 an hour.
But how do teachers like teaching a faceless class? "Online tuition is a very innovative method of teaching and hence is very interesting," says Swati Chopra, a teacher with Career Launcher. "We need to build a good rapport with the student and make sure that he/she is comfortable. Moreover as the teacher cannot see the student it requires a lot of trust on both sides. Online teachers need to be more interactive, responsive and encouraging too."
Prakash feels that distance is a challenge because the teachers need to put in a greater effort and also establish a studying/teaching relationship. But on the plus side, students are more confident, they ask more questions and on the whole there is less pressure on both the teacher and the taught. Most tutoring sessions happen on a one-on-one basis and so the teacher does have a fair idea of what the student feels or wants.
Certainly rewarding
Chopra is a full time teacher with Career Launcher and so her working day begins at 9.30 a.m. and ends at 5.30 p.m. But for part-time teachers work begins only after school hours. Most teachers put in approximately three to four hours a day. Chopra says teachers put in a lot of effort because the American curriculum is very low when compared to that of India. For example, a student of Std. VII has the same syllabus as that of a student in Std. X in the U.S. Moreover, the teacher has to be patient, liberal with praise and encouraging. If the student is not inclined to study then the teacher has to coax, motivate and persuade him/her. At no point can the teacher get irritated or use harsh words. "But on the whole it is a very satisfying experience," says Chopra. "If you are a good teacher the student will listen to you. These students are very hard working and polite too. It gives us a glimpse of their culture and the experience itself is self-illuminating."
At Career Launcher they first give the student a diagnostic test and based on this test a schedule is prepared. The students are then provided with online lecture classes. Then they provide the assignments, doubt sessions, periodic seminars and finally tests for evaluation. So far, they have found this method successful.
They get feedback from both the student and the parent and most of the time the feedback is positive, say both Career Launcher and Educomp Datamatics.
Would it change education in India? No, says Prakash, but it would definitely change education in the U.S. "We are helping them get smarter and cleverer and also improve their education system. And, in India e-tutoring is poised on the edge of a great marketing boom."
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