JEDDAH, 14 June 2008 — The fee for a two-day session of pre-examination tutoring has gone up to as much as SR10,000 per subject in the days before the start of final exams. Testing begins today for about two million schoolchildren.
Parents are anxious to get good teachers to coach their children so that they attain good grades in difficult subjects, such as English, mathematics and physics. One parent complained that he could not get a teacher for his children though he was willing to pay whatever he asked.
Muhammad Al-Saadawi, an English teacher from Jordan, said that the trend to seek special private coaching is common in most Arab countries.
“The students need special coaching shortly before exams because many of them didn’t get sufficient learning,” Saadawi told Arab News yesterday. Abdul Kareem Abusurae, a math teacher from Jordan, like several other teachers came to the Kingdom on a labor visa as a carpenter because he did not want to be a regular schoolteacher, which pays a low salary.
“I teach students in various districts in Jeddah,” he said. “Wealthy parents pay three to 10 times more than the ordinary people.” He added that he uses a tutor broker to get wealthy clients.
