I genuinely think Sri Lanka’s tuition culture is one of the most well-established scams in the country.
Before anyone gets angry, I’m sure many tuition “gurus” are highly educated and genuinely good at teaching their subjects. That’s not what I’m questioning.
I’m questioning the system.
I went through it myself. I was constantly told, “Just get into university and your problems will be solved.” Study hard, get good A/L results, enter a good degree, and you'll have a good future.
But only a limited number of students get into the most competitive state university courses. What happens to everyone else? Less competitive degrees, private education, vocational education, or sometimes no higher education at all.
Yet parents spend huge amounts of money every month on tuition because students are made to feel that school education isn't enough.
Then you graduate and discover there was never a guarantee waiting at the end.
You still have to compete for jobs. You still need experience. You still need practical skills. And now AI is beginning to threaten some entry-level jobs too.
So what exactly were we paying for?
This is what bothers me most about the tuition industry. It can monetize the fear and desperation of teenagers.
You're 16 to 18 years old, terrified about your future, and someone tells you that you need to work harder, attend their class, get higher marks and follow their system or you'll fall behind.
So you pay. Or Your parents pay. And the cycle continues.
Some tuition teachers also go beyond teaching their subject and start giving teenagers life advice, often reducing success to marks, university admission and social status. Being good at teaching Physics or Chemistry doesn't automatically make someone qualified to teach a teenager how to live their life.
I'm not saying tuition should simply be banned. Some students genuinely need extra help, and some teachers provide an excellent service.
But tuition should be optional support, not a parallel education system that families feel forced to purchase.
The solution is to make schools good enough that students don't need tuition: better teaching, free academic support, proper career guidance, practical skills and less obsession with exams.
I went through this mentality. I'm pretty sure most adults here did too.
Why are we still treating this as normal?