The Challenges of Private Supplementary Tutoring: Global Patterns and their Implications for Africa

Private supplementary tutoring, in which pupils in full-time schools (both public and private) receive extra lessons after school hours, at week-ends and during vacations, became a major phenomenon in parts of Asia a few decades ago. More recently, it has become a major phenomenon in parts of North America and Europe. In Africa it is less obvious, but increasingly visible in urban areas; and there are strong reasons to suggest that it will grow significantly during the coming years. Supplementary tutoring may have very desirable effects in promoting learning and providing incomes for the tutors. However, it raises major challenges for equity since prosperous households are able to pay for greater quantities and better qualities of tutoring. Moreover, out-of-school tutoring has implications for the nature of in-school work, and thus has a backwash effect