Author: PTI
Publication: The Hindu
Date: February 22, 2007
URL: http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002200702220312.htm
India is fast emerging as the global online
tutoring hub by delivering top-notch teaching services at down-to-earth rates.
With a large number of dedicated post-graduates
well-versed in English language, India has the greatest potential to grow
in the online tutoring industry, say industry insiders.
Indian teachers provide tutoring services
at a fraction of the amount charged by their counterparts in the United States,
United Kingdom and other European countries.
"When it costs $40-100 per hour in the
US, Indian teachers charge three to four times less," says V Rameshwar,
Chief Quality Officer of Chennai-based Tutors World Wide (I) Pvt. Ltd.
Going a step further, Bangalore-based Tutorvista
provides unlimited tutoring for a month for $100, says its Chairman and Founder,
K Ganesh.
Within a short span of two years, ever since
supplementary education through internet attained an industry status in India,
the growth rate is 100-150 per cent, says Rameshwar.
The company, which was started in 2004, now
has 400 teachers in its pay-roll and around 5,000 students across the globe.
According to Ganesh, 18 months back, Tutorvista
started with one teacher and one student and now has 500 teachers and over
2,000 students.
India now earns around $15 million per year
from online tutoring --10 per cent of the total market share. "This is
expected to swell to $2.4 billion within three years", says Ganesh.
Tutorvista has students in 12 countries, including
Australia, Turkey, Denmark, Singapore, the Middle East and Canada. But majority
of the students are from the US and the UK.
Thirteen-year old Kathreen of Westchester
county, New York, says, "My Indian tutor is very patient and kind. She
takes time to explain things to me and I have improved in classes".
"With online tutoring, we can do sessions
at our convenience. We save a lot of time, instead of having to drive up and
down", Kathreen, who has been receiving tuitions from Tutorvista for
English since October last year, says in an online interview to PTI.
Among the other developing countries which
have ventured into the "eBay of education", such as Pakistan, Sri
Lanka and Malaysia, India has an edge, says Ganesh.
India has a large number of post-graduates
with sufficient computer know-how compared to these countries, he says.
"When we gave a recruitment advertisement,
we received applications from 6,000 post-graduates, many of them being Ph.d
and M.Phil holders", says Ganesh.
Through online tutoring, globalisation, whose
merits were hitherto enjoyed only by the technologically qualified, has reached
the homes of people educated in all subjects.
It gives opportunities to science and arts
degree holders to earn from home. For seven hours work a day, Tutovista pays
them Rs.12,000-14,000 monthly. Moreover, there are no commuting hassles and
the timings also are flexible, he says.
According to Rameshwar, TWWI recruits freshers
and trains them for the job.
But Tutorvista has retired professors, teachers
and qualified housewives in their pay-roll.
These companies also have representatives
in many of the client countries, especially in the US and the UK, through
whom the necessities of the market are ascertained.
By online tutoring, Indian outsourcing companies
have even ventured into the B2C (Business to Consumer) model, says Ganesh.
They deal directly with the parents and the
students. There is no other brand or company intermediating in the B2B (Business
to Business) model, he points out.
Tutoring through letters and couriers had
been a mode of supplementary education in sparsely populated countries like
Australia for long.
But, with the advent of voice technology on
the internet, "real-time voice-based online education" has become
accessible to everyone across the globe, adds Ganesh.
