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Students flock to tutors for more than flashy image
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¡§Nowadays it seems that tuition has become an entertainment business. Tutorial classes are talk shows,¡¨ said Wong Chi-ming, who has taught economics in a
secondary school for over 10 years.
Mr Wong finds school teachers may not have much time to design different teaching methods as they have more responsibilities and heavier workloads than that of private tutors.
Apart from teaching, school teachers have to do many administrative jobs as well as to be responsible for developing students¡¦ interest in learning and for extra-curricular activities. ¡§Sometimes teachers even need to become counsellors,¡¨ Mr Wong said.
The hectic schedule in school can hinder teachers from making improvements on their teaching, he said.
Students are attracted to private tutorial lessons also because they find the current syllabuses difficult to follow and the problem of big classes in school affects their learning, the secondary school teacher said.
The number of students attending private tutorial courses and the amount of money they spend on the service are huge.
According to the Census and Statistics Department¡¦s Household Expenditure Survey in 2004-2005, nearly half of the form six students had paid for tuition, the highest proportion among different levels of secondary school students. On average, each form six who received tuition spent $828 monthly on tutorial classes, the lowest among all groups.
The business of private tuition is lucrative, and most tutorial centres run several branches in different districts across the territory. Those tutorial schools are usually located in shopping centres and commercial buildings.
The tuition fees charged by private tutorial centres vary, depending on the levels, subjects, duration and intensity. Some courses may cost just a few hundred dollars for a month¡¦s study. But others can be expensive, especially those on the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination and the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination. One tutorial centre charges up to $16,000 for a form five level¡¦s 10-month course and to $20,000 for a form six course.
In some tutorial centres, they offer intensive courses targeting to achieve a particular grade in the public examinations. Students who aim at obtaining top grades can take a special class called ¡§Capture A¡¨, and those who want to get a C can attend a ¡§Capture C¡¨ class.
A tutorial centre uses illustrations in its economics notes for form seven students.
