Choosing the right tutor for your child

Once you have taken the decision to engage a teacher for private tuitions, the next step is to decide who the best is for your child. It is important to choose the right tutor as this will have lot of repercussions in the future performance of your child. There are certain dos and don’ts that one needs to follow. Some of the questions that you need to ask

• What are the subjects that you need support for?
• Who is the best faculty who can devote the time and effort to support you?
• Where does the tutor stay? How close is your residence to the tutor’s?
• Is it possible to arrange for home tuitions at a time when either of the parents is at home?
• What are the Service Level Agreements that you need to discuss with the tutor?
• What is the budget?
• What is the reputation of the tutor?
• How many students is the tutor currently engaged with?
• How much of individual attention can the tutor devote to your child?.
• What sort of infrastructure does the tutor have?
• Who will pick up and drop your child (especially for working couples)

You can either use your network or use websites like Think Vidya as the ThinkVidya reach is far wider and you can be assured of a faster response. In addition, ThinkVidya also has a tutor verification program that you will be assured of the quality of the verified tutors. You may also speak to other parents and find out where they are sending their children for tuitions. Please note that many schools discourage their own teachers from taking private tuitions. However, if you have a teacher who works in another school staying close to your home, you may as well approach her/him with a request. The pitfalls Jayalakshmi Venugopal was a home maker in Mumbai. She was engaged in taking tuitions at home to supplement the family income. She had many students who came from lower middle class homes. Presumably, her fees were affordable and she had students trooping in her home in batches after batches. She received a request from one Hema Anand, who stayed in the opposite building to teach her son Sushil. Jayalakshmi should have understood Sushil’s scores, past performance etc and Hema should have also realised that Jayalakshmi could not have given her son Sushil the personalised attention that she had wanted. Sushil was less than average in his studies. It appeared that Jayalakshmi had bitten off more than she could chew. When Sushil failed in Class VIII exams, the blame squarely fell on her leading to a strained relationship between both the families. Parents, especially those desiring tuitions for higher classes, should select a tutor who can devote the kind of attention that is needed for those classes. The methods of coaching that work for lower classes need not necessarily work for higher classes. Rather than send your children for a Kannada tuition to someone who already has 40 students, is it not worth scouting for someone else who can give your child the special attention that he/she deserves? In any case, however the rapport that you may have, it is not advisable to have a home tutor without parental supervision. Madhavi Rathod, is a home maker who shifted from Pune and is now settled in Bangalore. Her husband works for an automobile firm in Bagmane Tech Park. For the last 8 years, Madhavi has built a reputation for herself among students of select schools in and around the area as a Hindi teacher who helps in getting good scores in Hindi exams in ICSE -- especially middle and higher school levels. But some of the school teachers scoff at that. Sheela Jagannathan, a Hindi teacher in a school says, “Students going for private coaching in Hindi is ok. There are parents who do not know a word of Hindi and so there is a compulsion. However, these tutors take classes just like a factory produces products in an assembly without taking the time to teach the gentle nuances of the language. So, children learn by rote without really feeling for the subtleties in the language. Reading and writing both complement each other. That is something the private tutors do not relate to that easily.” But another teacher Nutan Kelkar says that Madhavi has built a name for herself so much so that students vie for joining her private coaching classes. Madhavi’s past students and their performances have been brand ambassadors. Manasi Sakhare, a parent, whose son has joined CMR college, Banaswadi is thrilled with the results of her son Chinmay in the Class X exams where he got 85 marks in Hindi. Besides special tutors, there are also coaching classes that are available that cater to a particular board. They are also a good option. In the end, what matters is the passion with which the tutors teach students. Teaching, like medicine, is a profession whose outcome is determined more by love for the profession rather than monetary gains. Bangalore based Bhairavi Amol sums it up succinctly -- “ I enrolled my daughter Sunetra for Kannada tuitions with a teacher based on advice given by my husband’s colleague. This lady was not a teacher as such but was a home maker who had very few students. I had my doubts initially but to her credit she put in so much of effort. She taught my daughter so well that Sunetra scored 90 marks in Kannada in Class V exams even though we do not know a word of Kannada and we hail from Nasik.” So, eventually the choice is yours. Having engaged a tutor, do have full faith in his/her abilities and periodically speak to the tutor to monitor the performance of your child. As parents, we can’t wash away her hands from our responsibilities, can we? In any case, it is better to engage someone who can devote the attention that your child deserves and if this means spending a few extra bucks, then it is definitely worth it. Related Links ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ List of Home Tutors in Bangalore List of Home Tutors in Delhi List of Home Tutors in Mumbai List of Home Tutors in Kolkata Listed Home Tutors in Chennai