Introduction: It has been observed that dropping out of government schools, is rampant among children in the communities with which the Foundation works. In few cases, children study till the Xth standard and fail the board examination. This is because, in the absence of proper tutoring and coaching, children, who are mostly first-generation learners, find it difficult to cope with their syllabus.

The tuition programme was started in Rajam in 2003. Today, several tuition centres are being run in several locations across India where the Foundation operates.

Objectives: To provide curricular support to school going children to ensure meaningful learning.

Process:

• Tuition teachers are selected through written test and interview and appointed at various tuition centres operatedby the Foundation.
• Tuition centres are usually free or charge a very nominal fee.
• Classes are held generally for students of Class V and above after their school hours.
• The Foundation regularly supervises and monitors the performance of the tuition teachers and the students.

Achievement/ Strengths: It has been observed that majority of the students attending the tuitions are girls. One of the reasons is that parents are not usually ready to pay for tuitions for girls. They also hesitate in sending their girls to tuition centres located far away from their homes in the evenings. These factors contribute to their poor performance in studies.

GMRVF has therefore started tuitions in the localities where the girls reside and charge a very nominal fee (and even in some cases no fee) from the students. Not only has this found wide acceptance among the parents, it has also helped the Foundation to reach out to the most vulnerable population. The teachers conducting the tuition programmes are well qualified and experienced. A robust system to select the teachers as well as to review the effectiveness of the tuition programme, has been designed and implemented.

The results of most of the students attending the GMRVF run tuitions have been very encouraging. The pass marks of the students attending tuitions have been higher than the students who attended school only.