PETALING JAYA: While most businesses have been severely hit due to the effects of Covid-19 and movement restrictions, private educators and tuition centres are seeing better times.
With the prolonged school closure, many parents are turning to private educators as they fear that their children may be left behind academically.
Claudine Cheh, manager of a private tuition centre in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, told theSun that the disruption to schooling posed a problem for many students.
She said more parents have sought private educators to make up for the loss in physical lessons as they do not want to just rely on online classes.
“Initially, my centre recorded a 40% drop when the movement control order (MCO) was enforced last March. But after the second MCO, I managed to gain about 20% more students,” she said.
“I think parents realised that they cannot just depend on online classes as there would be some children who will fall behind since it is a passive learning session between teachers and their students.”
Cheh said students enrolling at her centre take a pre-entry test to assess their level of learning.
“We found that some cannot remember what they have learnt in their online lessons and made a lot of careless mistakes.”
She added that with parents getting more tech-savvy, they now opt for online tutors for their children rather than attend physical classes at tuition centres.
Part-time online private tutor Inah Ja said with the abrupt switch to remote learning, it has become difficult for special-needs students.
She said the usual mass online classes may not be effective for some students as it depends on the students’ learning ability.
“There are average and slow students, and some tend to be quiet or shy to ask questions during online learning. So this may not be the best way for these type of students,” she said.
“In my experience, a one-on-one online tutor would significantly help to improve the student’s education performance but of course, it depends on the affordability of the parents as not all can pay for an online tutor,” she said, adding that she has two students whom she teaches for free as they were learning through mobile phones because their parents could not afford laptops.
Due to the MCO, Inah, who used to be a home tutor, has turned to online tutoring to sustain herself while she does her Masters in Medical Ethics and Medical Jurisprudence in UiTM Sungai Buloh.
Siti Zarirah Awang Ahmad, a full-time teacher at a private school, said there was an increase in students enrolling at private tuition centres.
“Starting this year, the demand increased compared to last year as parents are getting more anxious and worried about their children’s education development,” she said.
She pointed out that parents were not that bothered about their children’s learning when the first MCO was imposed since they thought it would be a temporary move.
“But since the MCO has been enforced again, they fear that their children will fall behind in their studies although they are learning via online classes.”
