e- tutoring: An overview of market

Online Tutoring in USA:

Online tutoring started in the late 90s and the market has grown ever since.

Online tutoring in USA alone would grow by 90% in the next ten years.

The size of the US tutoring market is $2.2 billion and online tutoring accounts for 6 percent of that market. At present, $132 million is spent in online tutoring by the American parents. 1.9 million students of the K-12 schools use online tutoring service.

Parents have to pay from $40 to $100 for each hour for the teaching.

Online Tutoring and India:
There are many tutors in India who are working as an online tutor. India per year earns approx. $5million from online teaching. Out of $132million, India takes away $20 to $25 million. So you can see that it is quite a big business in India. There are companies who hire professional and experienced teachers and train them on how to deal with American accent. Some companies allow teachers to work from their homes and some companies have their offices. At present, at least, six tutoring companies are based in India, like 24hourstutor.com. Few companies are situated in abroad.


Why Indian tutors?

? As every body knows they offer their service at a very cheap price. Although many of us think that America is not a very price sensitive countries but it is not entirely true. Education is very expensive in USA. Before the birth of a child, his or her parents start saving money for their kid's education. At present, parents have to pay $40 to $100 per hour to the American tutoring companies. On the other hand, Indian tutoring organizations charge less money. Companies like 24hourstutor.com charge $9.99 per hour for one-on-one tutoring session.

? The companies even train the teachers to understand American and UK accents and student jargons. So language is not a big problem.

? Compared to other South Asian countries, India's education system gives more emphasis on English. English is India's second language.

? Online tutoring for American teachers may not be a very attractive job but it is a full time job for many Indians. Hence, they give more effort.

? Internet is the most important factor in online teaching. Outsourcing is one of major businesses in India; hence, the country already has very good internet infrastructure. So the student and teacher can communicate with each other very well.



Pakistan: the future rival of India:

Pakistan is gradually becoming a major rival of India in the field of online tutoring. Like India, Pakistan also has a good education system which emphasize on gaining competency in English. Aside from the education system, Pakistan has another advantage. The phonetic system of Urdu language matches very well with that of the American English. In future this country would be the major competitor of India. But there are many other factors that comes in to play in Pakistan’s progress like political instability and socio-economic factors.