Do Private Tutoring Centers Provide Equality of Opportunity and Quality in Education?

Recently, Turkish government announced a policy plan which demands that private tutoring centers will either be closed down or be relocated in the formal education system by converting themselves into private schools. The government proposal caused a big –and controversial- public debate on various aspects of private tutoring, particularly in terms of its effects on education outcomes, equality of opportunity in society, and on who benefits from private tutoring and how much.  By publishing the policy note presented in this email, ERG aims to make an informed and constructive contribution to the public debate in Turkey on private tutoring centers.

With this note, Education Reform Initiative (ERG) aims to help steer recent debates on the state of private tutoring centers (PTCs) in the right track. A common phenomenon in Turkey regarding changes in education policy is the prevalence of unproductive discussions that are far from the essence of the issue at hand. Furthermore, the fact that such radical and complex changes are brought to the public agenda in a hasty and polemical manner is a problem in itself. Along these lines, debates on PTCs, which directly affect many people, should be steered towards a more constructive platform where the issue can be discussed with an evidence-based and holistic approach.

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