In 2013, while working on an Oral History Project which brought social scientists from India and the world together to consider the impact of education (especially vocational or unconventional education), this author came across her first “serial entrepreneur”. She was middle-aged, living in suburban Kolkata, had worked for nearly two decades as a tailoring teacher at the Ramakrishna Mission, Narendrapur, and had set up a number of small-scale businesses after retiring. Rashida Begum not only guided the women of Narendrapur village on how to manage finances and access small loans, but was also active in the Panchayat, took tuitions to promote the education of children in the village, taught the women and girls in the village how to stitch, ran a jute products business with local artisans, a city gold jewellery business with a few relatives, and a tailoring shop on the main road (which is a big deal because shop leases on main roads can be quite expensive).
When asked which one of her many ventures she would be pursuing, at any cost, till the very end of her life, even if everything else failed, she replied immediately that it would be imparting education—whether in the form of tuitions to school kids or in the form of vocational training to women and girls. “I earned my education at a huge cost, and had to overcome so much,” she explained. “I had to drop out of school very young to get married. After I had my son, my husband suggested I go back to school and get a matriculation certificate. It was a very basic necessity, because you need to show that one certificate to get into vocational training schools as I did.” Rashida Begum was in her 30s when she went back to school, and the experience—and her uphill climb to earn a livelihood since—taught her the value of education and the central role it plays in making women feel confident, self-sufficient and independent. And this is something she hopes to pass on to the next generation, especially to women and girls.
“Women need financial independence, even if their husbands, sons and fathers earn well,” she said with a conviction that has stayed with me all these years. “If she is educated, if she has the knowledge to share, she can at least teach to earn.” Rashida Begum’s words ring true, especially for thousands of women across the nation who aren’t teaching in formal schools, but are taking tuitions in small batches from their homes. These are the women who aren’t always credited as education entrepreneurs, but generations of students who have succeeded in life due to their guidance, and families which have been monetarily supported by them, can attest to the fact that these women are entrepreneurs indeed.
India, The Land Of Tuitions And Tuition Teachers
Think back even a few generations and you’ll know that tuition teachers have been around for decades in India—even if they haven’t always been women. A 2014 research by K Sujatha, an expert in education planning, administration and anthropology in India, explains how the system of tuitions emerged in India. The study, published in the journal Revue Internationale D’education de Sevres, states that private tuitions came up as a “shadow of the formal [education] system” primarily to “supplement academic support and to overcome school inadequacies.” In recent times, this shadow system has grown exponentially due to both demand and market mechanisms.
Calling private tuitions a “surrogate mother”, the study explains that private tuitions are prevalent at all levels of education, but are invaluable and almost compulsory in secondary education “mainly because performance in public examinations is an important aspect to meet increased competition for entering into desired academic streams and thereby to higher, technical, and professional education.” Call it a “shadow system” or a “surrogate mother” as the study does, but we all know and understand the value of tuitions today. It may be because the classroom sizes in schools (especially government schools) are huge, and the teacher to student ratio doesn’t guarantee the attention each student deserves. It may also be due to parental and peer pressure to succeed in examinations. It may also be because all parents want their children to succeed, but not all are able to guide them through academics.
Whatever the reason may be, the emergence of tuitions as a parallel system of education in the country has helped many educated women gain financial independence. But that’s not all these small-scale education entrepreneurs received, as tuition teachers have pointed out.
Tuition Teachers Speak Up
For Mumbai-based Poonam Sen, 50, a B.Com graduate who has been taking tuitions for the last 16 years, there’s more to the life of a tuition teacher than earning money—even though that does help. “It’s an enjoyable job that you can get done from home, while managing your home,” she says, adding that it’s also crucial nowadays. “There is a lot of difference between education now and the education I received. We knew our basics because during our time, clearing the basics was considered very important. Now they don’t go into basics, because finishing the syllabus quickly is what the teachers focus on. So getting the basics cleared has now become a tuition teacher’s job. I teach my students all the basics, and I’m sure they will not forget these lessons in the future also.”
Delhi-based banker Neha Verma, 33, might belong to a much younger generation of tuition teachers, but she agrees that teaching is a win-win no matter what your age. She started teaching juniors when she was in 6th standard herself, and continued taking tuitions till she got her job in her mid-20s. “For me, the amount I got paid during that time gave me confidence and pocket money. Secondly, I felt teaching my own juniors will help me revise my own studies and keep the basics clear. That’s how teaching works anyways. You clarify a topic in your head first, then you teach, and that improves retention,” she says. She also believes that middle-aged women who have a good educational background—whether they are homemakers now or retired—should take tuitions if they can. “These are women who have raised their own kids and are now free, so they will be able to give students the attention. They will also feel that their education still has some value. Most importantly, it will help them stay financially independent and confident as they grow older. Financial independence is very underrated in our society, and it shouldn’t be.”
Kolkata-based Krishna Goswami, 60—who also started taking tuitions as a college student in the 1980s, did a B.Sc and B.Ed, taught in schools across India, and started taking tuitions again after retiring in 2008—believes that being financially independent at her age is definitely great for her confidence. “I have been able to support my family. I have been able to build an identity for myself. Plus, interacting with children gives me so much joy, especially since my own kids have grown up now,” she explains. Sen agrees: “The respect you get and the pride you feel when your kids succeed, that gives me even more confidence and satisfaction.”
Are We Entrepreneurs Or More?
But what about turning their homely small-scale ventures into large-scale ones in this day and age when entrepreneurship is booming? The women we talked to didn’t seem too keen for a number of reasons. Sen, for example, pointed out that tuition teachers face obstacles that people who run formalised businesses perhaps don’t. Plus, they constantly have to contend with the fact that formal school teachers have benefits that they don’t, and existing in the same market isn’t that easy. “Parents have asked me if I take fees for May, because many schools take fees for that month. It’s a little unfair because we’re working hard, doing so much, and yet parents tend to bargain with us as if we’re in a fish market. If you’re a school teacher, they don’t argue that much,” Sen says.
Goswami has faced similar situations herself. “I have received respect, but I have often also faced moments where parents try to bargain with you or delay fees,” she explains. “I think that depends largely on the nature of the parents, not the children we’re teaching. But I think this is the kind of uncertainty anybody with their own venture faces: The response depends on the customer.” For her, personally, tuitions were never meant to be turned into a large-scale business. “Firstly, because creating a large classroom means I wouldn’t be able to focus on individual students and teach them thoroughly,” she says. “Secondly, creating a group of teachers to start a tutorials business means I would have to accommodate a lot. Staying independent on the other hand gives me plenty of freedom to function as I want. Thirdly, I wanted to be able to focus on my own interests and home at this age, which won’t be possible if I expand. I love to read, knit, cook…where will I manage the time to pursue all of these?”
Verma’s argument against turning private tuitions into full-time businesses comes more from her experience of dealing with parents and their expectations. “I don’t think parents look for entrepreneurship brands when it comes to education. I believe they look for results,” she says, adding that the brand value of a large-scale tutorial or coaching institute is still considered less than that of a good school or college in our society. “What you need to get good higher education are results, and that a good tuition teacher working from home can deliver just as well,” she insists. That, simply put, is the power of education in the lives of tuition teachers, which Rashida Begum wanted every woman to wield.