Kids in Britain + Online Tutors in India = Divided Opinions

20 April 2011

Pupils at Raynham Primary School in London for their after-school math lesson .

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

India was once a colony in the British Empire. But now Indian tutors are helping to teach math to some British children over high-speed Internet connections.

Early results suggest that online tutoring may improve student performance. But not everyone is happy at this so-called outsourcing of tutors.

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It’s three thirty in the afternoon at Raynham Primary School in London. Students are gathering for their after-school math lesson.

Five time zones and thousands of kilometers away, their math tutors are also arriving for class.

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Each pupil gets an individual online tutor. The students work with activities on their computer screen and wear a headset and microphone to talk to their tutor.

Their classroom teacher, Altus Basson, says he has seen an improvement in results.

ALTUS BASSON: " Children who struggle to focus in class focus a lot better on the laptops."

Nine-year-old Samia Abdul-Kadir says she enjoys the online lessons.

SAMIA ABDUL-KADIR: "It helps me because sometimes when we’re doing it in class, I don’t hear the teacher very much and I don’t understand, but online is better."