Indians help American kids with online tutorials

Indian hands are proving to be exceedingly popular in another cross-continental online avocation: helping American children with maths and science.

Indian hands are proving to be exceedingly popular in another cross-continental online avocation: helping American children with maths and science.

What started rather tentatively a couple of years ago has been gathering steam lately with more and more American school-goers opting for personal tutoring to boost their grades and SAT scores.

For their parents, Indian online tutors are not just result-oriented. They mean smaller holes in their pocket. Domestic alternatives could cost a fortune — anything up to $80-125 an hour against $18-20 for an Indian tutor.

Growing Stars Inc., based in Fremont, California, is among the pioneers to tap Indians in online tutoring. It now boasts of 400-odd American students. Helping them battle complex maths formulas and equations are some 50 teachers based in Kochi, Kerala.

Meanwhile, Rob Weil, deputy director at the American Federation of Teachers, has cast doubts on the educational standards of overseas tutors.

But the websites are emphatic on this score: All their instructors hold Master’s degrees and all are experienced.