Indra’s Drishtikona (Viewpoint)

Indian Tutors for American School Children

Posted : May 26, 2005 at 10:36 am [IST]

I was going through a book the other day. It dealt with the future of outsourcing. The author raised a question. Will we outsource the task of educating our children, if the institution called school is failing?

On personal level, many well-intentioned and highly competitive middle class parents pursue an additional form of personal outsourcing for their children known as tutors. Nobody is suggesting that elementary school or high school education is going to be conducted from India via the Internet, but is it really all that crazy- or, all that politically unacceptable- to consider an offshore tutorto teach the finer points of calculus to your struggling high school son or daughter if that offshore tutor is demonstrably cheaper and better than the outrageously priced local tutor whose arrogant attitudes and lack of punctuality have been driving you crazy? Naturally if it happens, it will be out of the personal choices made between consenting parents.

And then I read this feature the other day in one of the pink paper of India.

US ‘No Child Left Behind Act’ mandates to provide federal funding to students in low-scoring schools and is entitled for such tutoring. Itis estimated to be a $2 billion industry. As reports say, tutors in Indian cities like New Delhi or Bangalore are helping kids in Colorado and California over the Internet.

Some provide tutoring through contract with big US tutoring companies, such as Sylvan Online. And some others work directly with schools and students. A New Delhi-based firm also serves students in the Middle East, and tutors about 1,500 American students in math alone. A firm estimates that Indian tutors are now working with some 20,000 American students.
One big reason for the outsourcing is, of course, cost. Growing Stars, a bay area-based small company, with a center with 20 tutors in Kochi, is able to offer one-on-one services for $20 an hour, significantly less than $ 45 to $80 an hour that the U.S. tutoring companies like Sylvan and Kaplan charge.

Few would begrudge using public money to give struggling students extra help, although critics worry about a lack of tutoring standards and question how well anyone can teach over a physical and cultural gulf. (But perhaps they are not up-to-date on the newer products that all the high tech companies and service providers have been coming out with for the making it so easy for users.)

All the concern such as one from Nancy Van Meter of the American Federation of Teachers about the lack of quality control for all tutors, hired under ‘No Child Left Behind’ (NCLB),will very soon get addressed by the teachers themselves that are selected from a huge number and if necessary are ready to undertake fresher courses in the subjects and spoken language

But perhaps the American concerns will be different and more humane. “We are seeing teachers being laid off given that situation, it’s hard to understand why our tax dollars are being used to create jobs overseas,” Meter says.

So let teachers like the others professionals in law and medicine make best of the outsourcing opportunity presently available because of the deficiency and complacency of American teachers. But it means a more severe and competitive outlook and flexibility of our teachers. They must give their best and earn a name as our other professional are doing

- Indra

Category: Employment/Education |