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Drawn to tutors due to lack of teachers, but it’s a big struggle to afford fees
View(s):By Mimi Alphonsus
The requirement for tuition to supplement a poor school education has been a longstanding problem. But with a deepening economic collapse, private instruction is now unaffordable for those who most need it.
R. Vanitha and her husband, D. Martin, live in Kotahena and struggle to provide for their three daughters and elderly parents. Vanitha’s oldest daughter is preparing for the Advanced Level exam, but financial difficulties have forced them to pull her out of private tuition classes.
The family’s electricity bill ran into arrears. When their connection was cut last month, they prioritised settling it over other expenses.
“Tuition costs Rs. 2,500 a month,” said Ms. Vanitha. “So we cannot afford it, and she is studying from home.” The day after this interview, Vanitha moved to Dubai to work as a domestic aide.
The tuition industry in Sri Lanka has existed since the mid-1900s and has grown into a Rs. 16 billion industry. Pic by Nilan Maligaspe
The 2019 Household Income and Expenditure Survey of the Census and Statistics Department found that the average Sri Lankan household spent Rs. 2,401 on education per month, which includes tuition costs, stationery and other expenses. Today, many families can’t even afford that.
Repeat increases in electricity and cooking gas prices have blown up living costs. According to the World Food Programme, 30% of Sri Lankans are food insecure. A household’s education expenses are often the first to get slashed.
N. Navendrakumar, a Batticaloa tutor of English, explained that before the crisis, he taught 200 students, but now only 150 attend. He works in Batticaloa town and in rural west Batticaloa, where he charges only Rs. 40 per class.
“I don’t take more because I know the students won’t be able to pay,” he said. “Even now, some don’t come.”
For Ms. Vanitha’s daughter and the students dropping out of Mr. Navendrakumar’s classes, the impact is significant. Without private tuition and with a state education system that has long failed them, students find it difficult to pass exams and get through school.
The Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) and UNESCO have found that 65% of urban Sri Lankan households in 2016 used private tutoring. In rural areas, this number is 61%.
When it comes to seeking university admission, the situation is worse. In a survey by the Sunday Times of 75 state university students, 84.9% said they attended tuition classes during A/Levels. For those in STEM fields, 96% took private instruction. With the education system leaning so heavily on private tutoring in times of crisis, parents fear that universities will become even more inaccessible.
There are many reasons for the prevalence of tuition classes, or “shadow education”, experts say. One is the heavy emphasis on exams. Another is the vast curriculum, as teachers find it impossible to cover everything within the school schedule.
In Mannar, a schoolteacher explained that some teachers organise classes after school for free, just to complete the syllabus.
“Many students go for tuition, and that is understandable because they cannot rely on the school to always have good teachers,” she said. “But organising after-school classes around those students [tuition classes] is difficult, and the dedicated teachers burn out quickly.”
Low-quality teaching in schools is another reason parents seek out tuition. Trade unions point to low salaries and a weak incentive system as reasons for below-par teaching. Unresolved salary anomalies and the high cost of living have further discouraged teachers. As a result, recruiting or retaining qualified teachers has been difficult.
Some teachers offer private tuition while being employed in schools, a practice that is broadly considered to reduce the quality of in-school education.
Ceylon Teachers Service Union General Secretary Mahinda Jayasinghe defended such teachers.
“The government has said that a family now needs one lakh [Rs 100,000] to live, but a teacher with 15 years of experience only gets Rs. 55,000–Rs. 60,000 base salary,” he said. “It is not only tuition classes. Many drive three-wheelers or do cultivation.” The government must increase expenditure on education if it is to revive the decaying education system, he stressed.
Other qualified and experienced teachers simply do not consider teaching in schools at all. One mathematics tutor who teaches 500 students each year graduated at the top of his class from the University of Peradeniya. However, due to better financial prospects and flexibility, he chose to start tuition classes instead of teaching in a school.
Higher Education State Minister Suren Raghavan said recent graduates in the science streams with an interest in teaching are especially likely to choose private tuition. “There is a shortage of science stream teachers and a consequent decrease in students,” he observed.
In the largest girls’ school in Mannar, St. Xavier’s Convent, the A/Level science stream does not have a physics teacher. The principal of St. Mary’s College in Bogawantalawa said they do not have an economics or chemistry teacher. Students at these schools cannot study physics, economics, or chemistry without tuition.
The tuition industry in Sri Lanka has existed since the mid-1900s and has grown into a Rs. 16 billion industry, Mr. Raghavan said. It is unlicensed, unregulated, and largely untaxed.
Nisha Arunatilake, a researcher at the Institute of Policy Studies, said that tuition has even started to encroach into the university space, with medical freshers taking pre-medical tuition. the Sunday Times spoke to one such tuition master, who said that he even offers private tutoring for undergrads.
A committee was appointed by the President this year to explore education reforms. Speaking to the Sunday Times, a member of the expert subcommittee, who requested not to be named, said the new education policy will introduce a module-based, rather than textbook-based, system to improve education outcomes. It will also reduce reliance on examinations and incorporate 30% class-based assessment.
The official was hopeful that changes would slowly phase out the “mafia” tuition industry. The planned reforms are not yet public.
As it stands, the state has essentially outsourced Sri Lanka’s free public education to a booming private industry, with severe consequences for the increasing number of families in poverty. Dismantling this decades-old institution will not be easy. The new budget, on November 13, will reveal whether sufficient funds have been allocated for reforms.
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