The competition for educational opportunities has been expanding through the practice of private tuition. Private tuition refers to the practice of extra class teaching after school hour. The term recognizes only the private teaching and learning of core academic subjects for a fee. Myanmar has had private tuition since more than three decades but there is little empirical research on why do students adopt such practice for their educational opportunities and what is the potential effect of it. This study, thus, explores the many factors relating to the practice of private tuition through the perspective of Grade 9 students in Kale township, Myanmar. Kale township is a perfect place to hypothesize whether or not there are variations in practicing private tuition among different communities such as different ethnic and religious groups. The study aims to convey the policy discourse on private tuition by observing the ground field data. The study used mix method research design. The total number of 1119 students were recruited in this study and 18 students were interviewed among them. It used purposive sampling technique in order to balance participants from different communities. Thus, the sample included 53.6% of Chin ethnic, 45.1% of Burmese ethnic and 1.3% from other ethnic groups. As well, it included 54.5% of Christians, 44.8% of Buddhists, and 0.7 of other religion groups. The survey responses described that 90.3% of students have had experiences of some forms of private tuition in their students’ lives and 88% of Grade 9 students were participating in different forms of private tuition during this academic year. According to the quantitative findings, there are not significant differences on receiving private tuition among different ethnicities and religions. Instead, students received private tuition because they perceived that school teachings were not enough for their learning and they intended to learn subjects more from outside of the school. In addition, the intention to get high exam score ranked the second main factor for participating in private tuition. There are also many factors which influencing on receiving private tuition under the school, parental, peer, personal motivation, and the nature of private tuition, itself. Families spent an average of 35,000 kyats (27 US$) per month for a child private tuition fee. Subsequently, low income families are less likely to receive private tuition and 92.5% of students who did not receive private tuition were from families with less than US$ 150 (200,000 kyat) per monthly income. In addition, the statistics predicted that receiving private tuition has a significant relationship with students from high-income families and high academic achievement. As well, students in urban areas are more likely to participate in private tuition than students from rural areas. Through this sense, private tuition probably has impact to exacerbate inequality in educational opportunities among different social classes.

Private supplementary tutoring – in Myanmar commonly called private tuition, and internationally commonly called shadow education – is increasingly recognised around the world as a significant phenomenon that can have positive sides in promoting learning and providing incomes for tutors but also has negative sides of maintaining and exacerbating social inequalities with a backwash on mainstream schooling. In Myanmar it is not a new phenomenon, but it has not been carefully researched and its implications have not been adequately discussed. Myanmar is in a new political and economic era, and the Comprehensive Education Sector Review (CESR) which examined educational needs for this new era observed a “need to address private tuition as a critical policy issue”. The CESR contributed to the National Education Strategic Plan (NESP) for the government that took office in 2016, and in turn the NESP recognised that in many schools “parents have to pay additional private tuition fees, which are the largest component of household expenditure on education”. The present research, commissioned by UNESCO in liaison with the Union Government of Myanmar, was conducted by a team from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) with support from a team at the Yangon University of Education (YUOE). It addresses the policy implications of private tuition by presenting empirical findings and analysing them within a comparative framework that draws on international experience.

This study focuses on the changed roles and symbolic identities of Myanmar teachers under the forces of marketisation and the privatisation of education. Private tutoring by mainstream school teachers is used as an example of what society perceives to be the incursion into education of market-oriented values that are incompatible with traditional morals. The theoretical framework draws on Durkheim's concept of the sacred and its interpretations in neo-Durkheimian scholarship, particularly cultural sociology. The main argument presented revolves around the idea that the marketisation of education is profaning the teaching profession. Based on qualitative empirical evidence from a larger three-year study conducted in eight Yangon schools, combined with textbook and document analysis, the study highlights the patterns of exceptional respect and reverence traditionally afforded to Myanmar teachers. This is then contrasted with the consequences of the growing marketisation of educational values through private tutoring. The study identifies private tutoring as a force polluting into what society perceives to be a sacred profession. Although bringing much-needed economic benefits to teachers, in the eyes of society, it has corrupted the idea of teachers as sacred individuals. In this study, teaching and tutoring are perceived as two distinct domains that operate according to different moral principles. This analysis enables critical reflection on the privatisation of education and its consequences for the lives of teachers, which are still under-researched.

In recent years, private tuition has emerged as a major force as results of both demand and market mechanisms. In terms of its nature, extent, and importance, it is in fact, comparable to the formal system. It is like a shadow of the formal system (Bray, 1999). I believe private tuition, which is running parallel to the main education system undoubtedly is playing an important yet unnoticed role, thus impacting the education market immensely. The essence of private tuition(PT) lies in helping a child who is lagging behind in the class by providing support in terms of more attention and additional hours. However, teachers are using it as an additional source of income even if it violates the rule of RTE. Drawing from a nationally representative data of ASER 2007 in addition to a qualitative field-based study in Bangalore, I have attempted to document the possible effects of private tuitions in High literacy and Low literacy states. Private tuitions in Low literacy states have a greater significant positive impact on learning outcomes of a child than in High literacy states. This study aims to propose a policy framework which will enable all the students who are lagging behind irrespective of their socio- economic status to access additional quality support. The paper also suggests a way to recruit more trained teachers in the education system in order to enhance students’ learning outcomes.

Private tutoring is now a major component of the education sector in many developing countries, yet education policy seldom acknowledges and makes use of it. The present study aims to identify the impact of private tuition on English subject on students of secondary level of Khulna City in Bangladesh. The findings of empirical work display the impact of private tuition of English on achieving higher grade, understanding in classroom, capacity to explain lesson, answering the learned questions and capacity to sum up of knowledge and mistakes. Firstly, it has ascertained that the discrimination between male and female students is not evident regarding private tutoring. Secondly, it is validated that the academic performances of the students develop if they receive supplementary or private tutoring. Finally, it demonstrates that the level of understanding of lessons can widen if the students receive private tutoring. This study also articulates possible theories like socio-cognitive co...