With the schools beginning to distribute Samacheer Kalvi textbooks, tuition centres in the city too have become busy. Some centres, which had suspended classes for two months, are now waiting for the textbooks.
The Sri Arunachala Study Centre in Adyar had postponed classes for students of Classes VI and VII. “We were compelled by some parents to accept students from these two classes but we could not continue without the material,” says a tutor at the centre.
“We conduct home tuitions which rely heavily on materials. Till the books are issued to the students, we revise the old chapters but it is not done in an organised manner,” says Purushottam, coordinator, Balaji Institute.
Many centres had compared portions from the old and new syllabus and taught lessons from them. “In the last two months, around 30 students enquired about tuitions and have assured us they will come after receiving the textbooks,” says a tuition teacher at Shenoy Nagar who began classes in June.
“I had procured the text books and compared the two syllabi. Now I will have to wait and see how the schools proceed and then take classes according to their pace,” he says. Teachers like V.Ananthanarayanan of Besant Nagar have been utilising the time to strengthen the basics of students studying in the lower classes.
Students hopeful
Students are hopeful that learning basic concepts at their tuition centre would help. Class X students like C.Deepak and M.Vetri from different boards say “At a crucial year we have lost out our precious time and hope what we learn here would help us catch up.”
For a brief period, the Samacheer Kalvi syllabus was available online and many tuition centres have downloaded it. “We took prints and made copies of the textbooks. We have been teaching students the common portions from the old and the new syllabus,” says D.Senthil Kumar, SSLTC Educational Academy Pvt. Ltd.
T.K.Raghuraman, who teaches mathematics for students of classes VIII and IX says, “Initially, students may have some difficulty with the material but they will soon get used to it,” says Shubham Vats, managing director, Achiever Learning Company (P) Ltd.
The classes conducted separately for students from the State Board, Matriculation, Anglo-Indian and Oriental Board can now be conducted in the same classroom, they say. “But initially some individual attention will have to be paid to students from the different boards. Once the Parent Teachers Association brings out the model question paper at the Directorate of Public Instruction, we will make more model papers in the same pattern,” says A.S. Arul, director, Arul's Coaching Centre.
Some coaching teachers insist Samacheer or not, it is ultimately the kind of training that students are given in schools that determines the amount of work they need to put in. “In certain schools, students are asked to merely learn by heart the questions at the end of each lesson. In such cases, I start from the basics. If the concepts are well-explained, I help students become thorough, by giving additional exercises,” says a private-tuition teacher at T.P. Chatram.
