Teaching and private tuition
good marks but not for real learning, | Friday, 8 April 2011
good marks but not for real learning,
Shafiqul Alam Teaching is a noble profession, a giving profession and a caring profession. Teaching has its rewards. However, the rewards are quiet internal. All of us can recall one or more teachers, of our student days, who served as mentors and dispensed knowledge selflessly to the students. Without having the lust for rewards, they led a simple life. Teachers are still responsible to equip future citizens, leaders, and workers with appropriate skills, knowledge and values. That is why the profession has a distinctive social role unlike other professions. But sadly, most of the teachers these days are engaged in the coaching centre or private tuition business. More often than not, a teacher teaches a number of batches every day before and after school hours. After putting so much effort in coaching, do they not become less attentive in the classroom? Private tuition has become an integral part of our education scene today. Students of all levels, including those at national universities, are dependent on this. This practice also creates social discrimination as many guardians do not have the ability to bear this extra expense and the outcome is clearly reflected in the results of the public exams. Most of the village schools have a shortage of quality teachers, especially in subjects like English, mathematics and science, and the teachers of these subjects are mostly engaged in coaching and private tuition. Apart from students, most teachers are also dependent on notebooks. This trend is dangerous for both education and the future of the country. Actual education is unattainable through coaching centres, private tuition and notebooks. They are only good for obtaining good marks but not for real learning. Teachers concentrate more in coaching centres than in classrooms and this creates apathy among the students towards attending regular classes. Many teachers rightly argue that the poor remuneration, that they earn, force them to look for other sources of income. The remuneration and the status of teachers at all levels have to be increased at least to the same level that other educated sections of the society enjoy. But the tendency of teachers to earn extra income through coaching centres and private tuitions cannot be stopped with that only because many teachers earn a lot more and thus it has become a lucrative business indeed. To avoid all these and make a radical overhaul of the secondary education system, a school-based assessment system, where 30 per cent of the annual marks for students in all classes between six and nine lie with teachers' subjective assessment of a student's honesty, consistency, leadership qualities, extra-curricular activities etc, was introduced back in 2006. But most astonishingly, the approach has created another problem. Now, teachers are taking unfair advantage and forcing students to go to their private coaching classes, otherwise they are getting poor marks. Some may argue that private tuition has an important role as the courses are lengthy, students are of heterogeneous merit quality, time is limited etc. But the way private tuition is becoming a culture is really alarming. In this regard, it is a matter of utter dismay that many guardians are accountable too. These days, they are over-conscious about their children and they insist that their children should go to the coaching centres. Thus, students are failing to develop their own studying skills and are becoming heavily dependent on coaching centres and notebooks. They are going on to obtain good marks and everyone is appreciating them as good students. But the fact is that any note prepared by a teacher or a senior student would be much better than a note prepared by a student. And getting good marks after memorising such kind of notes is never a real education rather it is one of the ways to destroy students' creativity and self-dependence. According to Socrates, "Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel". The private tuition and coaching centre-dependent education system is only filling vessels and this is why this practice must be stopped. Even if coaching is needed for the weak students, that should be selected by the teachers and school authority. For the greater benefit of the country, this practice has to be uprooted and a better remuneration package should be offered to the teachers. ....................................................... E-mail : [email protected]
Shafiqul Alam Teaching is a noble profession, a giving profession and a caring profession. Teaching has its rewards. However, the rewards are quiet internal. All of us can recall one or more teachers, of our student days, who served as mentors and dispensed knowledge selflessly to the students. Without having the lust for rewards, they led a simple life. Teachers are still responsible to equip future citizens, leaders, and workers with appropriate skills, knowledge and values. That is why the profession has a distinctive social role unlike other professions. But sadly, most of the teachers these days are engaged in the coaching centre or private tuition business. More often than not, a teacher teaches a number of batches every day before and after school hours. After putting so much effort in coaching, do they not become less attentive in the classroom? Private tuition has become an integral part of our education scene today. Students of all levels, including those at national universities, are dependent on this. This practice also creates social discrimination as many guardians do not have the ability to bear this extra expense and the outcome is clearly reflected in the results of the public exams. Most of the village schools have a shortage of quality teachers, especially in subjects like English, mathematics and science, and the teachers of these subjects are mostly engaged in coaching and private tuition. Apart from students, most teachers are also dependent on notebooks. This trend is dangerous for both education and the future of the country. Actual education is unattainable through coaching centres, private tuition and notebooks. They are only good for obtaining good marks but not for real learning. Teachers concentrate more in coaching centres than in classrooms and this creates apathy among the students towards attending regular classes. Many teachers rightly argue that the poor remuneration, that they earn, force them to look for other sources of income. The remuneration and the status of teachers at all levels have to be increased at least to the same level that other educated sections of the society enjoy. But the tendency of teachers to earn extra income through coaching centres and private tuitions cannot be stopped with that only because many teachers earn a lot more and thus it has become a lucrative business indeed. To avoid all these and make a radical overhaul of the secondary education system, a school-based assessment system, where 30 per cent of the annual marks for students in all classes between six and nine lie with teachers' subjective assessment of a student's honesty, consistency, leadership qualities, extra-curricular activities etc, was introduced back in 2006. But most astonishingly, the approach has created another problem. Now, teachers are taking unfair advantage and forcing students to go to their private coaching classes, otherwise they are getting poor marks. Some may argue that private tuition has an important role as the courses are lengthy, students are of heterogeneous merit quality, time is limited etc. But the way private tuition is becoming a culture is really alarming. In this regard, it is a matter of utter dismay that many guardians are accountable too. These days, they are over-conscious about their children and they insist that their children should go to the coaching centres. Thus, students are failing to develop their own studying skills and are becoming heavily dependent on coaching centres and notebooks. They are going on to obtain good marks and everyone is appreciating them as good students. But the fact is that any note prepared by a teacher or a senior student would be much better than a note prepared by a student. And getting good marks after memorising such kind of notes is never a real education rather it is one of the ways to destroy students' creativity and self-dependence. According to Socrates, "Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel". The private tuition and coaching centre-dependent education system is only filling vessels and this is why this practice must be stopped. Even if coaching is needed for the weak students, that should be selected by the teachers and school authority. For the greater benefit of the country, this practice has to be uprooted and a better remuneration package should be offered to the teachers. ....................................................... E-mail : [email protected]