Private tuition soars in India

Once a fortnight, Bharati Prayag, a driver in New Delhi, used to treat himself to a chicken curry and a quarter bottle of rum. Earning a salary of 7,000 rupees ($144) a month and living in a hovel far from his wife and three children back in Shivan, a village in the state of Bihar, the curry and rum served to lift his spirits momentarily. But a year ago, his wife complained that the village school teacher was frequently absent leaving the pupils with no proper instruction. Knowing his children would have no future without an education, 45-year-old Prayag, now sends home 800 rupees ($16) every month to pay for private tuition in maths and English for two of his children. "I don't mind forgoing my little treat. Their future is more important," he said. Like millions of poor Indians, Prayag has to send his children to a state school because it is free. But he knows the education they are getting there is mediocre and must be supplemented by a private tutor. Some Indians, both in villages and in urban slums, are so dismayed at teacher absenteeism in state schools that they make huge sacrifices to enrol their children in private schools.