CHAPTER I

Introduction

This study aims to deal with the factors of private supplementary education. This study analyzes the policy of tuition centers to attract students. On the other hand, this study explores the students’ motivations towards supplementary education.  The contribution of supplementary education in Nepal is increasing in a great way. In the name of providing quality education tuition centers are running their business. One of the major questions; why the teachers are highly motivated towards private tutoring is because of the financial support. Showing different offers and fake facilities, tuition centers are unfairly competing in the market. It doesn’t mean that all the institutions are the same. It is very hard to prove that how many students attend tuition classes per year; it is because of, lacking government policy. There is no provision of keeping data about tuition students. But we can easily analyze that, the annual turnover of tuition centers and the lifestyle of tutors clearly reflect the motivation of the students towards private tutoring is an issue for the Nepali education system.

Analyzing the policy of the tuition centers. I tried to understand the view of the students as well. To understand the student’s motivation towards tuition centers I talked with students of different levels who had taken tuition in their previous classes; to know about their view towards tuition classes.  For more information, I had talked with various people about private tutoring but I found their views almost similar as they belong to different classes of people; i.e., students, teachers, or Parents. I have collected rich data for this paper with open-ended interviews and policy document reviews. The review of existing publications about shadow education helped me to understand shadow education. While collecting data I collected amazing experiences about students’ views and the factor that motivates them to take tuition. I have talked about the relevance of tuition and the offering and scholarships that are provided by tuition centers. Mostly the tuition centers are growing their economic turnover because of students’ motivation. Tuition centers are unfairly competing in the market with different facilities and discounts; however, they are contributing to low achievers. On the other hand, they are supporting students to get better grades for the academically sound students. The way students show an eagerness for private supplementary education clearly reflects that tuition centers are earning great economical value. We can analyze the provision of government and the activity of the tuition centers regarding their income and their tax to the government.

This research report is divided into five chapters. The first introductory part includes a brief introduction to the research. The second part, the literature review supports my study to be more authentic and research-oriented.  Similarly, the third part is the methodology part where the method of data collection and other procedure is discussed.  And the last but not the least part is findings, conclusion, and recommendations. Finding is the heart of the study which directs me towards my objectives. Here I have explained what I actually got from the study. I have discussed three factors that motivate the students towards tuition and the strategy of the tuition centers to attract the students. I have concluded this paper with my own view about the issue and finally, I have given some recommendations to concerned people and policymakers for the betterment of mainstream education.

What are the policies and strategies of tuition centers to motivate the students?

Though we don’t have clear data of the students who are taking tuition and the institutions working on private tutoring, it has tried to explore some of the strategies and motivating factors of students of tuition centers. The objectives of this study are to:

–    analyze the strategy of tuition centers

–    explore the motivating factor of supplementary education

Literature Review ClickHere

CHAPTER 3

Methodology

The research project helps to analyze the factors motivating students for supplementary education. This is the actual study about the policy of tuition centers regarding students’ motivation towards private supplementary education. The study is conducted to analyze the role of private supplementary education in mainstream education. The study is exploratory in nature. In this study, I have tried to explore the students’ view towards supplementary education and the factors which motivate students for tuition classes. Beyond that, I have tried to explore the policies of the tuition centers to attract students. I had collected detailed information about shadow education before choosing the issue for research. From the review of previous studies on shadow education, I have collected a lot of fundamentals principles to reach up to the analysis of the significance of supplementary education. Though the research can be done through a quantitative approach, I wanted to explore the actual view of the students; that’s why I have used a qualitative approach for my study. By nature, my issue demands exploratory methods to derive the finding. For this reason, I used a quantitative research design. Secondary data are collected from a review of previous studies and publications; which are briefly described in the literature review section.

The population of my research is all the tuition centers and the students who take tuition beyond formal education. I know my sampling of the population is not appropriate to derive actual findings but to take the exact data and sampling there is no authorized data of tuition centers and the students taking tuition. Considering the limitations I have tried to interview three students from different levels who have taken tuition in their previous classes. The interview assists me to reach my objectives as I have asked in detail about the motivation, institutional policies, and perception of students about tuition classes. On the other hand, I have tried to review the policy documents of tuition centers and also I tried to explore their techniques to attract the students via discounts and plus facilities. To collect appropriate data I chose a semi-structured interview as my data collection tool; because I need in-depth information about students’ motivation for tuition class. I could use other tools as well, but I thought an interview is the best tool to collect in-depth information about students’ motivation.

To derive the finding I took help from Bray’s book and article, from which I have collected existing knowledge about private tutoring. On the other hand, I have gone through education acts and regulation 2059 which make me familiar with government policy for private tutoring. From the interview, I have collected students’ perception and motivating factors and from the policy and document review I have collected the strategies of tuition centers to attract the students. I could use other methods or research design to explore the issue, but I used quantitative data collection methods with exploratory research design to achieve my objectives.

While collecting data I have considered various things like the secrecy of the participants, identity, the personal dignity of the participants and other ethical considerations. Before collecting data I have convinced the participants with all ethical consideration. 

CHAPTER 4

Finding and Discussions

For the betterment of mainstream education private supplementary education should be observed by the government. . However, the way they are providing extra classes to those students who are low in achievement, who don’t have sufficient time for formal study, really helps to achieve academic excellence. More than half of the academic output is associated with private supplementary education. In this situation, the government should positively support and supervise to keep under the educational policy. If the government or schools can run extra classes for low achievers students, the situation will be under the control of mainstream education. Though there are various areas to analyze; but students are attracted to the tuition only for the quality education. Teachers, parents, and busy schedules are the major variables affecting supplementary education.  The teachers would justify the practice on the grounds that they are unable to cover the syllabus during official class hours and/or are paid such low salaries for their mainstream deities that they are forced to find ways to supplement their income (Bray 2009).  In my research project, I have tried to explore students’ motivation towards tutoring and the strategies that apply to the tuition centers to attract students. The objectives of my project are: Analyze the strategy of tuition centers and explore the motivating factor of supplementary education. The following findings help me to obtain my objectives. The finding for the first objectives are:

i.  The psychological fear of the students of losing grade

“I took tuition because all of my friends were taking. I thought if I didn’t take it I would be back. Whenever I started reading at home I just used to remember my friends were taking tuition and they could get better results than me. Later I realized that I could do my best through my self-study. Paying extra money for the same content was almost worthless for me.”

In this case, the student seems less interested in taking tuition, but his psychological fear energizes him to take the tuition. On the other hand, the competition between groups can be the reason behind taking tuition. When I was asking the question he answered as if he realized that it was worthless to take tuition just to compete with a friend. He further added that it was just his compulsion to take the tuition because he was only the student left beyond the tuition if he didn’t join the class. The psychological pressure to take tuition never gives a better result; rather we can provide a better environment for our child to learn. Now the student is at Bachelor’s level. In my second question, he replied that if he had a conscious mind as he is now about self-study he would not have taken that class. Further, he added; that it was worthless to repeat the same content that they had already studied in the classroom. Though he emphasizes negative factors I find a little bit motivating factors in his answer. The psychological fear of losing grade is a factor to motivate students to take tuition. It’s not a positive motivating factor however it compelled the students to take tuition.

ii.  Students’ beliefs towards tuition class

Taking tuition is one of the best ways of passing the exam. For the middle-level learner’s additional class helps them to achieve a little better result. During my study one of the respondents responded: 

“I have always taken tuition up to my bachelor because once I didn’t take tuition and I failed my board exam. After one year I took tuition and the return of my rigorous study I had passed the exam. It was my compulsion as I was not a talented student.”

The saying of one of the participants reflects that taking tuition is the ultimate way of passing the exam. Most of the students who are taking tuition have aimed to pass the exam. Capturing the students’ sentiments the tuition centers are offering different sorts of advertisements like ‘Guarantee Pass’ and a hundred percent pass. Tuition centers offer special classes for the low achievers or those who might not be able to pass the exam from regular classes. Due to the special focus for those students, they are able to pass the exams. From the various responses, it is reflected that supplementary education is also a mandatory part of formal education because students are depending on tuition classes to pass the exams.  

 iii.  The environment of the tuition centers

“Especially when we go for tuition due to the reading environment; in school education we do not get such an environment but in the tuition centers all the students are there only for learning something. The environment in the tuition center seems to be only for reading but in school all students may not create a reading environment.”

Most students prefer a cool environment to learn. It is universally accepted that a learner can concentrate his mind in the study in a peaceful environment rather than a noisy environment. As the number of students increases in class, the noise also increases, and when the number of students decreases the environment will be favorable to the students to learn. Due to the high structure of fees, the selected students took tuition, for this reason, the number of students and learning environment in the tuition center is good for the students. When the students pay for learning they focus on learning more. The selected students, the environment, and the amount they pay for the learning environment are motivating factors for students.

The second objective of this study is to analyze the policy of tuition centers to motivate students towards tutoring. The finding of my second objective are as follows:

iv. Tuition centers offer guest tutors and free admission

“We get the opportunity to meet with subject experts sometime, on the other hand we get quality input in tuition, because tuition centers don’t involve weak teachers in tutoring. Sometimes they offer free cost admission which supports us to make our knowledge sound.”

While visiting different tuition centers I have studied their published documents. There I found several techniques they have applied to attract the students.  I have found many of the institutions offer freeship to those students who come in groups to admit. Sometimes the institutions offer free admission charges to the groups of students, which attract the students and increase the popularity of the centers among the students. Tuition centers ask for the popular teacher as their guest teacher. The action which they apply to motivate students increases the reputation of the institution and tutor as well. During my research I have found, some tutor travels for a distance just to take a day’s class. This is because the institutions offer a big amount of money as they have advertised connecting the name of the teacher and even with the bigger institution in which the teacher is involved. On the other hand, the students also seem motivated when any institution offers a guest tutor for a day. If the tuition becomes cost-effective, automatically students become motivated towards quality education. I don’t mean that they provide quality education. But they claim that they are offering quality education with subject experts with famous tutors.

v. Use of attractive and false language

The following pictures show the use of language to motivate the students.

Many of the institutions distribute leaflets to advertise. The language that they use is really attractive. They try to make sure to visit their institution by the use of language, like guarantee pass, money back, a discount of early admission, limited seats, and so on. Even the institutions may not have a number of students. They claim that they have limited seats and on the other hand they admit as many students as they find. They make free for the admission but grab the money from the tuition fees.  The reality of academic achievement can be different rather than advertised policy the students believe in what they see in the front line.

CHAPTER 5

Conclusions

There are various ways of achieving academic excellence. Among them, private tutoring is not a new issue in the field of education. The growing motivation towards supplementary education becomes a major supporting factor for mainstream education. The need of students is being fulfilled by private tutoring. It has become a way of improving the living standards of the teachers and for students, it is the ultimate way of getting academic excellence with upper grade. Many people and institutions are competing for better income through supplementary education. Every institution is bringing new policies to attract students. They offer discounts, pass guaranty, money back policies to attract students.  Mainly, Teachers are attracting to tuition centers because of financial benefits. And students are attracted due to the quality education provided by institutions and the learning environment along with qualified tutors. Pupils are motivated because of the learning environment in institutions; not only the environment, some of the students are taking tuition due to their psychological fear of losing grades. Lack of governmental policy, down warded parental concern towards mainstream education, are the root cause of growing institutional supplementary education. If the concerned authority gets delayed to think about it, the day is not so far to completely overcome mainstream education by shadow education. Students just see the immediate return but they never think about future consequences. Taking tuition is not the long-lasting solution to a problem, as students are taking tuition as exams preparations, however, tuition centers are contributing to the total productivity of the entire academia.

 

References

Bray, M. (2013). Procedia-Social and Behavioral Science.Hong Kong: Elsevier Ltd.

Bray, M. (2013). Shadow Education. Journal of International and Comparative Education, 18 to 22.

Bray, Mark. (2009). The Shadow Education System. Paris: international institute for Education Planning.

Mark Bray. (n.d.).

Nepal, M. o. (2059). Education Act and Regulation. Kathmandu: Ministry of Education.