Egyptian families struggle with private tutoring costs

2012-07-30 By Waleed Abu al-Khair in Cairo

An estimated 65% of Egyptian students receive private tutoring and participate in study groups. [Mohamed Abd El-Ghany/Reuters]

Neither the summer vacation season nor the festive Ramadan atmosphere in Egypt could distract Ali Massad from his biggest concern: private tutoring for his children.

Like millions of other Egyptians, Massad relies on private tutoring to compensate for what his children miss during the academic year, a choice he said stretches the family's budget.

Massad said his three children are in preparatory and secondary schools, and he and his wife are unable to help the children with their new curricula, which he said schools do not adequately teach.

"What's striking is that the majority of public school teachers take advantage of the situation and provide tutoring services in all subjects, at rates ranging from 10-50 pounds ($2-$8) per session," he said.

"Teachers insist that students take these subjects in order to pass the school examinations, but the majority of them do not teach the minimum requirements to high school upperclassmen," he said. "Students then have to go to them for private tutoring during the final review period, when tutoring rates skyrocket, sometimes reaching double the normal rate," he said.

Latest data

Misbah Khair al-Din of the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics said the average Egyptian family spent 3,700 pounds ($610) on private tutoring in the 2010-2011 academic year, an increase of 175% over the previous year's average of 1,350 pounds ($222).

This amount represents 45% of the family's spending on education, he said.

An estimated 65% of Egyptian students receive private tutoring and participate in study groups, Khair al-Din said.

"Many studies and recommendations emphasised the need for reforming education, which is supposed to be free, by regulating the schools, which lack basic scholastic activities, modifying curricula and keeping pace with modern educational methods," he said.

A teacher's perspective

Rashad Abdel-Sater, a science teacher at a public school, said he and many other teachers offer private tutoring and booster study groups.

"The blame does not fall solely on the teachers or the lack of discipline in schools, but also on the students' families for their lack of daily supervision and discipline at home, to the point where the student comes to school as if he is going to a picnic," he said. "Addressing the private tutoring phenomenon begins at home."

Abdel-Sater said some teachers take advantage of the situation.

"Unfortunately, some teachers take advantage of this situation and do not cover the minimum education requirements in the schools, forcing the students to rely on tutoring as the key to success," he said. "This has a negative impact on students, whose parents cannot afford to continually pay for lessons, and the academic year passes while the student does not acquire the minimum education requirements."

Abel-Sater said some students need booster lessons in science, or daily reinforcement.

"If the student is being tutored in every single subject, then his case is symptomatic of a [bigger] problem and requires an urgent remedy," he said.

Teachers are often forced to tutor students because their salaries are low, he said.

"The teacher who earns a salary of 1,000 pounds ($165) at the most, heads a family and has other necessary expenses cannot work in any other field. He is forced to tutor and hold study groups," he said.

Abdel-Sater said he leads three study groups, each with 10 students who meet three days a week. He earns 20 pounds ($3) per student for each 90-minute session and gets paid the day of the session. This equates to 7,200 pounds ($1,187) a month, seven times his salary as a teacher.

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READER COMMENTS

عبدالصمد

2012-8-27

I wish for the success of the new Egyptian Government in implementing their promises to the Egyptian people which are providing a decent life for them, particularly working on improving the educational level to upgrade the level of the country as well as providing the appropriate housing and working on developing the economy in general.
ملك سعد

2012-8-27

After the glorious Egyptian revolution of last year’s 25th of January, many things have changed a lot on the Egyptian territory and street. Also, the political climate has been completely different from the one before the revolution. From this principle was the election of the new President, not to represent the revolution but to convey the Arab Republic of Egypt from the deplorable situation that the corrupt Mohamed Hosni Mubarak made it reach the best and most developed situation. We see that the Arab Republic of Egypt is facing many problems, especially the economic and the housing problems, and we think that the main problem is the education that the former President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak has deteriorated and led to its vandalism and corruption, as he has vandalized every reputable institution in the Arab Republic of Egypt. The education in Egypt is in a deplorable condition and the schools’ levels do not suit any human level to receive education. Also, it does not fit the ancient Egyptian civilization and their global reputation that is destroyed because of the fools in power of this great ancient country and this ancient people who have been oppressed by their unjust presidents. These people, whom no State could have influenced or occupied, have experienced from the corruptors who have come to their country to sabotage and infuse the diseases as well as the disabilities that eliminate thousands of Egyptians because of their spread after the pollution of the Nile and the carcinogenic food that have spread in Egypt. What Egypt and its people have witnessed is a real extermination to the Egyptian people by the deposed and stupid Egyptian President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak. Therefore, we ask the new government of an economic and a political revolution in every respect to address the problems in housing, diseases, education, and other problems.
زكريا

2012-8-26

The ignorance that has spread in the Arab Republic of Egypt, especially their educational and their religious ignorance, has become a disease that is damaging the Egyptians’ brains as a result of the success of the Egyptian education in distancing the people from their religion in a way that confirms how heinous the former Egyptian regime was and how rapacious and greedy he was for the power. Therefore, all the Egyptian citizens have been obeying any ignorant person who comes to the people to talk in the name of religion. Some of these ignorant pinheads come to deny the existence of the historical paranoiac temples while others come with weird advisory opinions to which we do not know their sources. These ignorant people have certainly persuaded the people with their words due to the ignorance of the people and how these people are convincing. Therefore, the existence of such persons now in Egypt is a major calamity. We pray to Allah to redeem Egypt from them.
يحيى غانم

2012-8-23

We wish the new government that came with the popular choice following the revolution of January 25 would take care of science and solve all the existing problems in Egypt, including the economic and housing problems, which are the most important problems that should be solved soon. The solution of the education problem in Egypt is simple and requires some scientific steps in order to achieve its level of education. However, the required solutions should be comprehensive until we can solve the problem. There are financial solutions that require increasing the budget of education and scientific research through establishing new schools that would help in alleviating the crowdedness in the government schools. Then, we should take the most important step, which is the development of the educational curricula in such a way that suits the Egyptian student’s mentality and in a way that helps in developing society and helping it to progress.
فاروق حميد

2012-8-23

Knowledge and science represent the foundation of any nation or state. The nation that does not have science will never achieve any progress. Science is the base of the renaissance of the nations as God made this a universal norm. Hence, we urge the new Egyptian government to work hard to develop the curricula in the state of Egypt and we demand it to develop the schools, change their dates, and develop their performance in addition to training the teachers to be good cadres and to help them improve the deteriorated educational performance in Egypt. We also demand that it does its best to solve the other existing problems such as housing and the economic troubles, which are the main problems that face the Egyptians these days. Housing and education are not mere services to be offered by the government optionally; rather, they are rights of citizens in any respectable state. Hence, we demand that the Egyptian government puts out suitable solutions to handle this crisis and the problems, which embitter the life of the Egyptian citizen. Hence, we reiterate the seriousness of the educational crisis in Egypt and its escalating problems, which caused many troubles in Egypt.
محمد غبور

2012-8-10

We have to fight the private lessons and cancel it to improve education and the financial situation in Egypt.
محمد غبور

2012-8-10

The Ministry of Education has to cancel private lessons because they drain billions of Egyptian pounds from the Egyptian families. They waste the studying day for the student. It aims at destroying the educational level of the student and using him!
سميع احمد

2012-8-8

Egypt is the heart of all the Islamic and Arabic Nations and it has made many treaties that increased its position as a superpower in the Middle East. The Egyptian soldiers are the best soldiers of the earth. This is the meaning of the hadeeth of the Prophet of Allah (Peace be upon him) who does not speak about fancy. Therefore, where are these young people today? Who will benefit from them and their powers? We leave this question for the bright future that our lovely Egypt is waiting for. Our precious Egypt is the force of Islam in the Middle East. If this force is lost, we will be lost and we will perish. If it wins, we will be triumphant and cherished. Egypt is the land of science and scientists. It is the land of the Nile and the goodness. It is the home of every Muslim and Arab. It is the land of everyone who asks for science. Whoever does not know the history of Egypt, does not know his own history. What weakened the Arabic nation is only when the rulers of Egypt give up the honor of the country. All of my great love and appreciation to our beloved Egypt. God blessed Egyptian with martyrs, the martyrs of the revolution.
فواز سليم

2012-8-7

For the education sector, the President has promised to establish a structure of the education curricula and make them advanced to suit the international progress, and also for the new approaches that would improve the lives of our sons and daughters. The universities will have the appropriate research centers for the students to work freely and without restrictions for a better future for their country and to work on improving the education system in Egypt.
يحيى محمد

2012-8-7

The children of these days will be the leaders and the masters of the future if they have the awareness coming. Everything will be better and Egypt will be strong and vice versa. Therefore, we have to take care of everything for these children, the rising generation, and everything in respect of their health even before they were born. It is better to follow the program of prevention and protection before they get lost with treatments and solutions. That child who crawls on the floor has no power and does not know anything about the harsh world. Maybe tomorrow, he will become the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt and that is why all the officials in the Ministry of Health should apply the most accurate policies that deal with such important affairs and are responsible for the future of the whole nation. There is neglect that leads to corruption of affairs. There is neglect that leads to the loss of the nations and the neglect here is the second type of neglecting that we should avoid as we can sp that we will not reach a condition that cannot be treated and does not have proper solutions. Neglect in health leads to destruction and strong regret.
عدنان عزيز

2012-7-30

Peace be on you: This is strange. It seems that the Arab situation has resembling cases. I thought that private lessons and local schools that spread all over Iraq is a strange phenomenon only in Iraq but it looks like the Arab reality is the same and alike. Arabs live in the same circumstances.