Increasing Trend of Private Tuition in the UAE
1st September 2010 9:00
Private tuition is becoming commonplace in the United Arab Emirates, despite it being banned in the country, according to a report on a UAE news website. It’s claimed that more than 60% of students from grade 10 upwards have a home tutor, and that more than a quarter of UAE families spend roughly 5% of their income on private tutors. The most common subjects are Maths, English and Physics.
Professor Mark Bray, who has recently published: ‘Confronting the shadow education system: what government policies for what private tutoring?’ explained why he felt the industry was on the increase. He said that a major factor is families feeling pressured to help their children at all costs, and that there will be a lot of ‘finger pointing’ if they don’t hire a private tutor. Another contributing factor is claimed to be the increasing number of ex-pats moving to the UAE, and bringing with them a ‘tuition culture’ which is so common in the Far East and many western countries.
A solution to what is seen as the problem is for schools to offer after school lessons at a fraction of the price that private tutors demand. One school offers lessons at Dh50 (£10) an hour, compared to the standard rate of Dh100-200 for private tuition at home. However, many parents still choose to pay for one-to-one tutoring for their child, rather than opt for more classroom teaching at home.
Professor Bray claimed recently that private tutoring is a good thing when helps struggling students to catch up to their peers, but is detrimental when it creates social inequality.