ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED NEWSPAPER 15 June 2013 6 Shaaban 1434 - Volume 18 Number 5731 Price: QR2 ON SATURDAY Kuwait crackdown on expat driving licences KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait has begun cancelling the driving licences of foreign students who have graduated and work- ing housewives, tightening already strict rules for expatriates, a daily yesterday cited a top official as saying. The measure was taken because it was found that expats given licences as students had started working, and it was the same for some housewives, “which amounts to an act of forgery”, interior ministry assist- ant undersecretary for traffic affairs Major General Abdulfattah Al Ali told Al Anbaa newspaper. He estimated that “tens of thousands” of driving licences will be withdrawn. One more death from coronavirus in Saudi RIYADH: One more person has died and two more have fallen ill in Saudi Arabia from the new SARS-like coronavirus, MERS-CoV, the Saudi Health Ministry said yesterday. Saudi Arabia has been the country most affected by the respiratory-system virus, COSTLY with 46 cases, of whom 28 have died, data from the ministry showed. The latest death brings the worldwide death toll to 33, according to the World Health Organisation. US shoots down Syria ‘no fly zone’ idea WASHINGTON: The White House yesterday all but ruled out the notion of mounting a no-fly zone in Syria, bill- ing it as difficult, dangerous and costly, and unsuitable to halting close quarters LESSONS ground battles. Deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes said mounting a no-fly zone in Syria posed significant logistical and stra- THE ISSUE tegic challenges. “You do not have the same types of air defence system that exist within Every year we see expatriate defend private tuition, saying it is nearly they bring them more money compared to the Syria. So in that regard, it’s more difficult.” impossible to make a good career without paltry salaries paid by most private schools. As Rhodes also argued that in many cases, schools in Qatar making tall claims scoring high marks since academics and the for students, they pay less attention in school rebels and forces supporting the Syrian about their academic achievements job market have become highly competitive thinking they can compensate through the regime were “fighting in some instances as pictures of their top-ranking the world over. Even a 95 percent score may evening tuition. block by block in cities” in a way that made not get them a seat in a quality higher edu- Private tuition can make students lazy since targeting particular forces difficult. students get splashed on the pages cation institution back home, especially in a the tutors have readymade answers to all the See also page 8 of local newspapers. This practice country like India. expected examination questions. Education is more common among Indian Whether private tuition is good or bad is becomes too exam-oriented and tutors who can Iran elections see big not the issue. Private tutors will continue to more accurately predict the questions emerge schools. In fact, these schools thrive as long as there are students seeking as heroes in the business. voter turnout have only a small role in the high their services. However, when such tuition Schools normally turn a blind eye to this becomes the norm, it reflects badly on the phenomenon because if they take tough action, DUBAI: Millions of Iranians voted scores achieved by their students. education system. they would be forced to pay their teachers to choose a new president yesterday, If anyone deserves applause in this If a student takes tuition in three subjects more. There is even a tacit understanding urged by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali race for marks, it is the parents — which is very common in Qatar — a parent between teachers and some schools that the Khamenei to turn out in force to dis- has to shell out an additional QR1,000 at the former will be allowed to earn some extra credit suggestions by arch foe the United who shell out huge amounts every minimum a month, which is more than the bucks through private tuition. States that the election would be a sham. year on private tuition. monthly tuition fee charged by some expatriate Some schools have banned teachers from giv- The 50 million eligible voters had a choice schools. Then what purpose are these schools ing tuition to their students in a bid to prevent between six candidates to replace incum- serving? It is a fact that the poor quality of malpractices associated with private tuition. bent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Having been classroom coaching is forcing many students Complaints are galore about some teachers vetted by Iran’s electoral authorities, none rivate tuition is now so rampant in to rely heavily on private tuition. harassing or discriminating against their stu- is seen a challenge to the Islamic Republic’s the country that it is hard to find a It is a vicious circle. If a teacher spends six dents for not joining their tuition classes or for 34-year-old system of clerical rule. student who has never gone for extra or seven hours in school, he/she would spend opting for another tutor. Polling stations closed five hours later Pcoaching. Traditionally, weak students an equal amount of time after school hours Many students and parents are privy to than planned in the capital Tehran because have gone for private tuition, but now it has teaching groups of students in the privacy of such incidents although they may not speak of large queues of people waiting to cast their grown into a parallel form of education. For their homes. It is natural that they and their up. There are teachers who are known for vote. Voting was extended by four hours in weakPAGE students, private 6 tuition is the only way students will get equally exhausted at the end bullying students to join their tuition classes. the rest of the country. With authorities to improve their performance, while for those of the day, which badly affects their perform- It is high time private tuition is controlled in estimating a turnout of over 70 percent, final who are considered intelligent, it is a shortcut ance in school the next day. Qatar, either by the schools or by education results are likely only this evening. to higher marks. Teachers are more sincere in their efforts in authorities. See also page 4 Most expatriate students and parents would the evening classes for the simple reason that See also page 2 AGENCIES www.thepeninsulaqatar.com [email protected] | [email protected] Editorial: 4455 7741 | Advertising: 4455 7837 / 4455 7780 JUNE 15, 2013 ON SATURDAY 02 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com Home Pics: Qassim Rahmatullah Selling academic excellence Students seeking high scores and those adjusting to a new school are fuelling a boom in private tuition BY FAZEENA SALEEM “I give tuition to children from practice a lot of model questions in a school teaches her daughter schools and universities. I teach and past question papers. This and nine other students for an rivate tutors are thriving in them English, and sometimes helps in the examinations.” hour, three days a week, for which Doha as parents of Qatari political science and international Some parents send their chil- she charges QR250 a month. Pand expatriate students relations,” she said. dren to private tutors, even Teachers in Indian expatriate seek their services for “extra “Some Qatari children shift though they are scoring good schools who give private tuition coaching” to help them score high from Independent schools to grades, for interesting reasons. to their students in the school grades in exams. international schools. When they “My son is in grade six and he premises charge QR250 to QR300 Depending on their require- come to private schools they are has scored good grades. Yet I send a month. Some percentage of the ment and convenience, the stu- unable to meet the standards as him to a private tutor because he fee is given to the school man- dents choose study centres, group they have studied in Arabic and doesn’t study at home. When he agement for using the school classes held at a teacher’s house now they have to study in English. goes to a class, the lesson will be premises. or a teacher who makes home Also, students from Scandinavian revised,” said a working mother. “It’s not ethical for teachers visits. countries seek extra coaching in She sends her son to private to give tutorial sessions and take Fees for private tuition can vary English, mathematics and science tutors in mathematics, science a fee for it from the same stu- from QR50 to QR500 or more a as they have studied in their lan- and French once a week, for one dents whom they teach at school. month, according to the type of guages back home,” she added. and half hours. Because it’s their responsibility to the class. Some of the tutors no She said the learning cen- Indian parents and students, in coach students properly and guide longer work in a school, or are tre was planning to open a new particular, say they go for private them,” said an experienced Indian qualified but not in the teaching branch because of the increasing tuition because of the high level of teacher in a well-known school profession. number of students. competition in their country for a in Doha. Qatari students who move from An Egyptian father, who pays place in a good university. Some parents prefer to send Independent schools to interna- around QR1,000 a month for “Till the ninth grade I didn’t their children to private tutors tional ones look to improve their coaching for his child in three send my daughter for extra who do not teach their children linguistic skills in English.