Private tutoring is a means of attracting students, and “social media” is the key to teachers’ profi

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[size=52]Private tutoring is a means of attracting students, and “social media” is the key to teachers’ profit[/size]

[size=45]Social media promotion has become a key tool for private tutors in Iraq to reach a wide audience of students and build their reputation in a way that is independent of traditional means.
They benefit from the transformation of private tutoring into a key element for the success of students who rarely do not rely on private tutors. This phenomenon has been widespread for about two decades, and is accompanied by specialized teachers themselves resorting to electronic publishing methods and promotion via social media sites, and they seek the help of technicians and photographers to produce attractive advertising clips and promotional photos.
Mona Al-Hasani, a teacher for more than 26 years, says: “I am on the verge of retirement, and I no longer see any similarities between teaching today and the situation two decades ago.”
Al-Hasani describes herself as “one of the old generation teachers who reject private tutoring and give the best of what they have during education classes at school.” She regrets that only a few teachers from the old generation remain, noting that teachers are competing fiercely today to get the largest number of students to give them private lessons, and they are inventing many ways to do so, and exploiting modern technology to achieve their goal.
Although private tutoring contributes to the success of students, Al-Hasani believes that “this method deviates from the context of serious education, reduces the importance and personality of the teacher within the school, and eliminates the real role of the school in raising, educating, and building generations.”
The private tutoring system includes the method of in-person or distance learning. In-person education includes the presence of students with others in a hall within a private tutoring center. Distance learning, on the other hand, takes place by giving a group of students a study session at a specific time via the “Telegram” application.
The lecture may last for about two hours in the in-person and distance tutoring systems, and is given 3 times a week.
In general, private tutoring provides large financial incomes that depend on the teacher’s fame and the high success rates his students achieve. This means that “teachers must have the three elements of fame, competence, and ability,” says Imad Al-Karawi, a teacher specializing in mathematics.
Al-Karawi offers private lessons in person and remotely, and receives 600,000 dinars ($450) to teach one student in the academic year that runs from June to April, noting that the number of students he teaches annually may reach 150.
He explains that “the teacher must have high efficiency, and have the ability to deliver information to students in the easiest and simplest ways, and also fame, which today comes before competence and the ability to deliver information.”
However, other teachers said that “the three elements of fame, competence, and ability are no longer the basis for teachers’ fame, and thus their ability to attract a large number of students, which achieves good gains for them.
Shaima Al-Hadith, who teaches physics, recalls that many teachers lack competence but have gained a good reputation among students through online promotion.”
She added: “The teacher must allocate capital for promotion, and continue to promote himself throughout the year by adopting renewed and innovative methods. Therefore, many people resort to media professionals, promotion specialists, experts in modern media, and professional photographers in order to gain fame.
Some of these teachers have succeeded in attracting large numbers of students through these methods, and have achieved financial gains after the number of students they teach has increased, knowing that some of them have more than 500 male and female students.”
The same question arises regarding how a teacher who has achieved fame through promotion can continue to succeed without having the competence and ability to deliver information to students? Reem Ahmed, a history teacher, answers that she is satisfied with general teaching within the school, and refuses to be part of what she describes as “the phenomenon of sabotage through private teaching.”
She explains that “teachers who build their fame on promotion rely on their personal abilities to convey the impression to students that they have high competence, and to direct soft speech, good appearance, and a sense of humor. They are experts in how to deal psychologically with students who endear them to the subjects despite the fact that they provide an ordinary explanation, knowing that what any subject requires from the student is attention to the teacher within the school and serious review at home, but students do not apply that from them today, so they resort to private lessons.”
Today, private tutoring centers are spread across different parts of Iraq, run by people, most of whom are teachers who rely heavily on modern promotional methods.
Students say that they cannot succeed without private lessons “because the curricula are difficult, and there is not enough time to absorb the material, while the teaching staff is weak, so we are always looking for qualified teachers who give private lessons.”
Osama Musa (16 years old) says that he is satisfied with private lectures and summaries of the study materials. His colleague Zaid Tariq (17 years old) asks: “How can we study five or four scientific subjects in one day, and memorize the topics required of us? Perhaps the teachers deliberately do not convey the information correctly so that we resort to private lessons.”[/size]
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