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US - math tutors = India +
$
By
Priyanka Bhardwaj
NEW
DELHI - One more area of outsourcing is about to
take off in India - online math tutoring. In a
recent feature, The Wall Street Journal ascribed
two reasons for this curious trend. First, US
students are faring poorly in mathematics, with
American 15-year-olds ranked 24th among 29
industrialized countries in a study of mathematics
skills released last year by the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Second, there is an acute shortage of math
teachers in the US.
The shortage of math
teachers is attributed to the low regard for the
profession, dismal pay and high turnover. It is
estimated that there is a requirement for over
half a million teaching instructors in the US,
with a particular crunch in math and sciences.
According to the National Commission on Teaching
and America's Future, a third of new teachers in
the United States leave the profession within
three years, and half leave after five. According
to the American Association of Employment in
Education, nearly 40% of US high schools reported
difficulty in filling openings this year with
qualified instructors for mathematics.
One
way to plug this shortage is to employ teachers
from countries such as India, which the US
administrators have been trying to do in the past
few years. The other is the online way, using
sophisticated software and high-speed connectivity
that allows a teacher sitting in an Indian town to
help in the homework of a 15-year-old in the US.
American school administrators have been flying
down regularly to India to hire teachers at
salaries considered low in the US. However, in
keeping with the e-era, teachers are now available
even cheaper as no relocation cost is involved.
Indian e-teachers have been tutoring
students from grades 3-9 across the US, sitting at
their workstations in India. Industry observers
say outsourcing of learning is likely to pick up
considerably this year, with fresh contracts and
new infrastructure being set up. This is because
of the same advantages that call centers, which
serve as the back-end of multinational companies,
enjoy: a large workforce without any language
barrier resulting in optimum quality with low
costs. India is host to a huge bank of
English-speaking teachers considered superior to
competitors from countries such as China, the
Philippines and Singapore.
According to
the WSJ article: "Into the breach [of teachers]
steps a handful of Indian companies like Career
Launcher India Ltd that provide math tutoring
through two US online tutoring companies and
directly to students. The software developed by
Career Launcher allows teachers and students to
talk to each other during the live session. They
can even see each other through a Web camera." The
company has taught about 800 US students online in
the past 10 months.
In a recent study,
software body National Association of Software and
Services Companies (NASSCOM) said on
Internet-enhanced learning: "In the year 2005,
markets will reach a stage of maturity where
benefits of e-learning are more apparent ... as
opposed to being an isolated human resource
function or a lofty concept."
In
an interview, Satya Narayanan, chairman of Career
Launcher, said the time has finally come for India
to emerge in this domain. "This year and the next
will see a lot of action in terms of new contracts
between international education companies
outsourcing tutorial teaching contracts to India,
more so from the US market. It is going to change
the way pupils are taught in India and globally.
More employment opportunities with a higher pay
scale and better content delivery will take place.
Also, this would lead to corporatization of
education, lending it better branding.'' Career
Launcher, which had a deal with a US-based online
tutoring company, signed up with a second one
eight months ago.
Business and Process Outsourcing
(BPO) companies such as Career Launcher, Educomp,
Datamatics and NIIT have identified the
opportunity that has arisen after the Bush
administration signed the No Child Left Behind Act
'01 (NCLB) with its multi-billion dollar funding.
NCLB requires reading and math tests in grades 3-8
and high school. Industry players are drawing
major expansion plans, with new contracts being
signed and necessary personnel being hired to
provide e-tuitions at rates of up to $50 an hour.
The workplace is similar to call centers, with
large floor areas being divided into individual
cubicles for e-tutors. But unlike low-end call
centers that draw in the college-going crowd in
India, e-teaching is likely to witness a more
qualified and senior workforce.
According
to Kiran Karnik, president of NASSCOM, ''Foreign
countries acknowledge India's intellectual brand
thanks to efforts of institutes such as the IIMs
[Indian Institutes of Management] and IITs [Indian
Institutes of Technology]. This model could be one
of the best service exports that could finally
globalize the education industry. Today, the
market is fairly limited with a handful of
players, but in a year or two, virtual
international classrooms will be a norm."
Worldwide, education is
considered a major service sector export with huge
revenue potential for the host economy.
International students contribute approximately
US$12 billion to the US economy through their
tuition and living expenses. The US department of
commerce data describes US higher education as the
country's fifth-largest service sector export, as
international students bring revenue to host
states by way of their living expenses, including
room, books and supplies, transportation, health
insurance, support for accompanying family
members, and other miscellaneous items. Some 67%
of all international students receive the majority
of their funds from family and personal sources.
Adding other sources of funding from home
countries, including assistance from home country
governments or universities, nearly 75% of all
international students funding is generated from
outside the United States.
But while the trend of
developing-country students heading to US colleges
will continue in the foreseeable future, the
tables are clearly set to be turned at the school
level, thanks to e-learning.
Priyanka Bhardwaj is a New
Delhi-based writer.
(Copyright 2005
Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
contact us for information on sales, syndication and republishing.) |
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