16 Aug 2020

COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause havoc in various sectors, including the education sector whose school calendar has been disrupted by lockdowns.

With more parents feeling the pressure to augment their children’s study material, private tutoring has instantly become one of the popular alternatives to prepare learners for end of year examinations.

In an interview, co-owner of Platinum Tutors Mr Baboloki Tirelo said since they opened last year, they had observed a pattern where their enrolment numbers were increasing but gradually decreased after the first and subsequent lockdowns.

He said that even though they had registered completing students in Standard Seven, Form Three and Form Five, their largest group comprised learners who were re-writing Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE).

“Most parents do not understand the importance of private tutors until the learners perform unsatisfactorily in their BGCSE. But we encourage them to register for private tutoring even before examinations so that we could help children as they prepare for the final examinations,” he said.

Mr Tirelo noted that limited internet access hampered their online services, especially during lockdown when movements were restricted. He said even though they offered online lessons, some learners did not have access to internet facilities hence the initiative was not as affective.

He noted that in an effort to adhere to COVID-19 protocols, they had since divided their classes to ensure social distancing. 

He also noted that apart from the health register, they had scheduled their lessons an hour apart to provide for thorough cleaning and wiping of furniture before the next class.

For her part, Crack It, Kanye branch manager Ms Judith Sekelenyane said she was optimistic that even though learners had lost on some months of learning this year, they could still achieve good results with the help of private tutors.

She said they had been receiving a lot of calls from parents who wanted to enroll their children, something which she said showed the pressure to catch up. However, she noted that due to COVID-19 and shortage of tutors, they could only admit a limited number of learners.

“As Crack It, we motivate learners not to give up on their performance because we understand that there are slow, average and fast learners. We also take time to advise them on programmes and examinations they have registered for that are not part of our services,” she said.

Nonetheless, she also shared the same sentiments that online tutoring was still a challenge as some learners did not have access to cellphones. 

She said even though they discouraged pupils from bringing electronic gadgets to classes, they urged parents to ensure the learners had access for their online lessons. BOPA