Fleecing means obtaining an unfair amount of money from? About one month earlier, more precisely on Thursday the 29 May, in the article entitled ?Measuring the performance of teachers and the mammoth? which was published in the same paper, I had explained why and how parents get fleeced by the system of private tuition. I had also explained who are responsible for this state of affairs and what needs to be done to stop that. While that article targeted the conscience of the persons working in the educational institutions, this article is targeted at the parents and students. In Part 1 of this article, I will make a recapitulation of the main points of the first article and elaborate on a few additional points in light of the responses received from readers. In Part 2, I will deliver the promise of the title.

• Part 1: Recapitulation and additional points

Parents should spend ten minutes to calculate the price they are paying for the tuitions. If they consider the tuition fees for the period of Std IV-CPE and the period of Form IV-VI, plus travelling, pocket-money and accessories, they will find out that for two children, they spend about Rs 350 000 over ten years (Std IV-Form VI)! If only that sum of money really went into the education of the children! Parent, where does your money really go? The majority of parents send their children to tuition either because their friends also take tuition or because teachers to not teach well at school!

Most students take private tuitions only to end up with average results. If they spent the same amount of time and effort in self-study at home, they would obtain the same, if not better results! And how many of those who have failed their exams also took private tuitions till the last moment?

Parents should also realise why their children like to take these tuitions. For most students, taking tuitions gives them freedom of movement that they would not have otherwise. And especially during the weekends, taking tuitions is an opportunity to go out, wear stylish clothes, meet girlfriends and boyfriends and just to have fun. Learning is second priority! Making friends and having fun is good, but at such a price?

So what is the real purpose of private tuition today? The truth is that private tuition is just a source of tax-free cash for teachers and private tuitions make no difference to most of the students, except to the bank balances of parent and teachers. But the system prevents them from seeing the truth. It also means that the educational institutions that exist and the persons that they employ to design, administer and monitor the teaching programs are not working and not performing. This is the origin of the problem.

As from Form IV, the school curriculum totally neglects activities such as sports/physical education, music, arts, literature and reading. And because private tuition take most of their time and energy, children cannot practise these activities on their own. As a consequence, they are not able to develop their personality and character to their full potential. And in case they turn out to be weak academically, they have few job prospects because they did not have time to develop other talents and skills. And the consequences of not practising sports or not developing a habit for physical exercises in a young age are felt only when it is often too late to do something (our world record of diabetes).

Parents and students should by now realise what harm and waste private tuition represent. In fact the system of private tuition is a large-scale corruption. We do not realise it because it is very pernicious and insidious, so much so that it has become part of our state of mind! It can be likened to the Matrix as depicted in the movie by the same name wherein the victims are not conscious of what is happening and offer their full co-operation. Henceforth I will refer to the system as the Education Matrix. To be able to visualise this Matrix you should discard the traditional views and assumptions about the education system. It requires a paradigm shift.

Children are the ultimate victims of this corruption. They, who observe what is happening at school and in private tuition, are unconsciously learning the wrong concepts. Indeed through observation among other things, they learn the concepts of minimal effort, dishonesty and fleecing. And when they grow up and take employment in an office, in a bank or in a school, they will be inclined to fleece people. They will fleece you!

• Part 2: 12 ways to stop the fleecing of parentsby teachers

Know the teachers. Very often parents ignore everything about the teachers to whom they send their children for private tuition. Parents should ask the teachers to provide their full name, address and contact numbers, and should remind them that they are responsible for their children at least for the duration of the tuitions.

Attendance register. Parents should insist for the teachers to keep an Attendance Register and they should ask the teachers to inform them whenever their child does not turn up to the tuition.

Negotiate fees. Parents should not accept to pay any tuition fee blindly. They should negotiate. They should, for example, offer to pay half of the fees before the exams (in terms of the monthly fees) and the remaining half only after the exam results are out (of course, on the condition that the results are satisfactory!). This is because private tuitions are not free and your money should not be given freely! ` Tuition Assessment Report. Each semester parents are used to signing a Term Report provided by the school. Parents should insist to obtain Tuition Assessment Reports for the private tuitions. Hence teachers giving private tuition should be asked to provide Tuition Assessment Reports based on mock exams/tests every two months. And these exams should be given at the beginning of each month so that in one year there would be at least six reports (January, March, May, July, September & October). This will allow parents to have a better follow-up of the progress of their children and a better assessment of the investment they are making. This is because tuitions represent a huge investment in terms of finance and time.

Change the teacher. Based on these Tuition Assessment Reports parents would be able to decide whether they should find another teacher or even stop the tuitions altogether. On the other hand, parents should know what to do in case Tuition Assessment Reports are very positive but the final exam results are quite the opposite!

Association of parents. Parents should group together to impose and implement the measures/techniques suggested here and also to discuss and find other means of getting rid of the system of private tuition.

If parents and students would like to get out of the system of private tuition, they need alternative methods of learning and revision techniques. Some techniques are briefly described below.

Study-groups. Students should form study-groups made up of five-six students. There can be two types of study-groups. The first type is made up of only bright students. The second type can be made up of students of varying abilities but having at least two bright students. There are indeed very few problems that such study-groups would not be able to solve. And for the bright students who would help their weaker friends, it would be just revision for them and in fact their own learning would be reinforced (explaining something helps to better understand and memorise it). And if there is still any problem too difficult to solve, the school-teacher is paid for that. My friends and I had used such study-groups when we were in Form V. We used to meet at my place for a session of two hours during which we would work exam papers. We used to have separate sessions for each subject. It worked marvelously and we came out with several distinctions! Study-groups are more fun, great for friendship and free!

Self-study and self-discipline. Instead of wasting their time and money in tuitions, students should seriously consider self-study and parents should not only encourage their children to do so but can also help them, as described below. Indeed, today there are so many books with worked examples and model answers that self-study at home is very easy. However because of the pressure exerted by the Matrix, they end up paying teachers in order to listen to them read the model answers! Self-study requires self-discipline. Students and parents pay a very heavy price for lack of self-discipline.

Read the syllabus. The student should organise his/her self-study in such a way to cover each and every item of the syllabus. The student should study each word of the published Cambridge syllabus carefully. The syllabus clearly describes what is expected of a student. In fact the student should convert the syllabus into a planner cum diary which should be consulted and updated at least every week to ascertain whether they can answer the questions pertaining to them confidently.

Notes preparation. After reading a chapter, doing the exercises and past-exam papers, students should prepare notes to summarise important points, formulae and to write their own model answers to important questions. Note preparation is the basis of self-study. Revision techniques. Students should know how to revise their subjects. One of the best ways to revise is to use the method of self-expression. This means re-writing or representing concepts, methods or formulae in your own words or in terms of your own diagrams, codes or mnemonics.

How parents can help. They should accustom themselves with the syllabus and they should systematically ask their children to provide answers to the corresponding items of the syllabus. For example, section IV of chapter 12 of the Physics syllabus on Oscillation reads as follows: understand and use the terms of amplitude, period, frequency, angular frequency and phase difference and express the period in terms of both frequency and angular frequency. If their children know their subject they would be able to give the required explanations in a flowing, confident and convincing manner. And it would be very easy to catch the student who does not know his subject. And if that is so just four months ahead of the exams, you will know where your money has gone!

These are some of the techniques that I know of personnally. I invite parents, students and other persons to send and share the techniques they know. What is required is a compilation of learning and revision techniques that could be vulgarized. This will provide an alternative to private tuitions and a way out of the system.

The Education Matrix has been undermining the productivity and competitiveness of our country for years. Education is at the base of our economic development and if the education system itself is being sabotaged, this means our future is jeopardized! We will never reap the benefits of the reforms in the education sector as long as the Education Matrix continues to operate. Recently we have been scandalized by the disappearance of Rs 800 millions in our financial sector (where a Financial Matrix operates!). But how many times Rs 800 millions disappear in the education sector each year (out of a budget of Rs 6 billion)? A national campaign to combat the system is needed. Many organizations could and should help.

The NPCC (National Productivity and Competitiveness Council), the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance should wake up. However, parents should not wait for them (it might take a long time). Everyone should wake up. Just as with drugs, the combat against the system starts and ends at home with the parents and the children. Parents should group themselves and join their forces. Just take your phone or open your e-mail now.

Kailash Mani Nunkoo [email protected] C.C. Director of NPCC, Minister of Education, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.