Indian tutors offer new class of outsourcing
By Sudha Ramachandran
BANGALORE - From answering bank-customer queries to insurance-claims
processing, outsourcing is now moving fast into what is regarded as the heart
of culture - education.
Armed with all the assets to provide online tutoring services to clients
overseas, India is set to bite into the growing online tutoring business. It is
being described as the front-runner in the
race to become the world's online tutoring hub.
Online tutoring is big business in the United States, Europe and East Asia, and
one that is poised to grow rapidly. In the US, for instance, it accounts for
about 6% of the US$2.2 billion private tutoring market.
Online tutoring is an expensive service, often beyond the reach of middle-class
families. An hour of online tutoring in the US can cost anywhere between $40
and $60.
But outsourcing the service is changing that.
With Indian teachers providing the tutoring service at a fraction of the amount
charged by their counterparts in the US or Europe, online tutoring is being
increasingly outsourced. Outsourcing the service to India has brought down the
cost of an hour of online tutoring to as little as $20.
Bangalore-based TutorVista, which provides online tutoring to students in about
12 countries, appears to have created a revolution of sorts in the business. It
is providing unlimited online tutoring for just $100 per month.
"Americans are getting good-quality, personalized tutoring for their children
at a daily cost that amounts to less than what they would spend on a cup of
Starbucks coffee," said Krishnan Ganesh, founder and chief executive officer of
TutorVista.
If in the past it was only companies that gained from outsourcing jobs and
services to countries like India, with the outsourcing of tutoring, individuals
are becoming beneficiaries, too.
TutorVista has changed the paradigm for online tutoring. "We have made
personalized tutoring affordable," Ganesh said, pointing out that "this is
possible only if you marry technology, the Internet and lower-cost job centers
in India".
Such companies as TutorVista, Growing Stars and Career Launcher provide tutors
who are postgraduates; some even have doctoral degrees. Full-time employees
earn about $250-$300 per month - a fraction of what American tutors would be
paid, but double what an entry-level teacher earns in India. Most of them work
from their homes or cybercafes, which means that overheads are low.
While low cost of operating in India is a major reason for US companies in the
online tutoring business to outsource to firms here, there are other factors as
well that go in India's favor. India has a large pool of English-speaking
postgraduates with a high level of competency in math and science - subjects
that American students struggle with. Indian tutors are able to walk American
students through calculus easily.
What has further facilitated the growth of the industry in India is that the
quality of Internet connectivity has improved significantly over the past
couple of years and broadband facilities have made it inexpensive. The cost of
computers has also fallen, making them affordable for tutors.
Another factor that has boosted the outsourcing of tutoring is that school
education in the West is going through a difficult time. Only two-thirds of
teenagers - 50% among blacks and Hispanics - graduate from high school in the
United States. Under the No Child Left Behind Act in the US, schools are
required to provide remedial tutoring services to children if their programs do
not meet performance standards for two consecutive years.
Online companies, both from the US and India, are tapping into millions of
dollars available to firms under this act. There are at least half a dozen
Indian firms with links to US companies that are providing online tutoring.
But there is some opposition to outsourcing education from sections in the US.
Teachers' unions, for instance, are opposed to jobs going overseas. They are
lobbying for legislation that would make it more difficult for overseas tutors
to receive No Child Left Behind funds. There are also questions about the
quality of teaching, the impersonal nature of online tutoring, and so on.
Companies such as TutorVista and Growing Stars are bending over backward to
address these concerns. Tutors in India undergo a 60-hour training program
during which they are trained in the US educational curriculum, as well as in
methods of teaching children. They are taught about US culture to help them
establish a rapport with students. As for concerns regarding understanding
Indian accents, tutors receive training in accent reduction.
TutorVista allows students to switch tutors until they are comfortable. Growing
Stars offers its students a choice of US- or India-based tutors for English and
charges a $10 premium above its normal $20 rate per hour for students who
choose tutors based in the US.
At present, India is estimated to be earning about $15 million per year from
online tutoring - 10% of the total market share. This is expected to grow to
$2.4 billion in the next three years.
"The online outsourcing industry is still in its infancy," said Ganesh, and
India is "best positioned to be the leader in the field".
Tim Wiley, senior analyst at Eduventures, an education and research consulting
firm in Boston, echoed this view. "The dynamics are in place for India-based
tutoring companies to really grab a big chunk of the online market," Wiley
said.
Sudha Ramachandran is an independent journalist/researcher based in
Bangalore.
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