From Tuition Centres to Zoom Classes: How Kerala Parents Are Adapting to New Education Trends

Kerala has always been known for its high literacy rates and strong public schools. But in recent years, things have started to change. The COVID-19 pandemic pushed learning online, and new education technology (ed-tech) tools have grown quickly. As a result, the way parents support their children’s education is going through a big shift—just like it did in the late 1990s when private tuition centres became popular. Today, online classes through Zoom are being used alongside the traditional “tuition mashe” (tuition teacher) at home. Families are trying to understand what works best and what doesn’t. This article looks at this change, using new research, local news stories, and real experiences from parents.

1. The Tuition-Centre Culture: Deep Roots, New Pressures

Private after-school tutoring is not new in Kerala. In Kochi alone, the entrance-coaching market was estimated at ₹500 crore before COVID-19 disrupted brick-and-mortar centres. Many institutes that failed to pivot online in 2020 shut their doors; three years on they are reopening, buoyed by pent-up demand for face-to-face doubt-clearing and peer competition. Teachers interviewed by The Times of India say parents blame a dip in “academic discipline” on two years of webcam-only schooling and now want the structure of physical classes back. 

At the same time, fees have risen 12-15 percent since 2021 to cover smaller batch sizes and upgraded smart classrooms. For middle-income families, that inflation is colliding with job-market uncertainty, pushing them to mix-and-match: a lower-priced neighbourhood centre for core subjects and free YouTube channels or government broadcast lessons for reinforcement.

2. The Pivot to Screens: What the Pandemic Unlocked

Kerala’s much-praised “First Bell” project, which beamed daily lessons over KITE Victers TV and YouTube, prevented the 2020 lockdown from becoming a blanket learning blackout. A March 2025 analysis credits the initiative with reaching 3.7 million students, though it documents connectivity gaps in tribal pockets of Idukki and Wayanad. 

Parents initially expressed relief—children were at least “in class.” But by late 2021 dissatisfaction grew: a ResearchGate survey found 90 percent of college students in Kerala felt online lectures were less engaging, citing patchy internet and “one-way” delivery. 

These mixed outcomes nudged parents toward a blended model: keep the safety and flexibility of online for theory, but restore the social energy of offline for labs, sports and public-speaking. The result is today’s “phygital” (physical + digital) routine many households swear by.

3. Why Zoom (Still) Wins Hearts—Especially in 2025

Despite online fatigue, three factors keep Zoom-style tutoring sticky in Kerala in 2025:

1. Time Geography
    Commuting in the city’s evening traffic can take 90 minutes. Virtual sessions hand families that time back. For dual-income parents, shaving off logistics means more shared dinner hours.
2. Personalisation & Analytics
    The latest Indian ed-tech platforms overlay AI dashboards that track micro-concept mastery. Parents receive weekly SMS “heat maps” showing which math competencies need revision—data a traditional centre rarely supplies. A February 2025 survey of 500 Kerala parents by ParentingAdvisor found 71 percent valued these insights more than “chalk-and-talk charisma.”
3. Global Faculty Access
    A Kochi Grade-8 student can now book a 30-minute Olympiad-math session with a mentor in Singapore—impossible in 2015. For aspirational families targeting IISER or MIT, this borderless pool is irresistible.

4. The Cost Equation: Is Online Really Cheaper?

A 2024 fee-comparison by EdUwindoVe showed that full-suite online tuition for CBSE grades 5–10 in Kerala averages ₹1,800 per subject per month, versus ₹2,600 at mid-tier physical institutes—a 30 percent saving. 

However, hidden costs lurk:

• High-bandwidth broadband (₹999/month plans are now the norm).
• Device upkeep—parents report replacing cracked tablet screens twice as often since 2020.
• “Add-on” apps: adaptive practice, doubt-solving chat, mock tests, each billed separately.

So while entry costs are lower, total spend can converge with offline if families chase every premium feature.

5. Equity Gaps: Who Gets Left Behind?

Kerala’s digital divide may be narrower than many Indian states, yet it persists. A 2024 tribal-area case study showed 37 percent of students relied on shared phones and erratic electricity, leading to skipped live classes. 

Parents in these communities adopt creative hacks:

• Neighbourhood Learning Pods – five to six children gather around one laptop, supervised by a college-age volunteer.
• Offline Packs – teachers preload video lessons onto USB drives for weekly distribution.
• Community Solar Chargers – a micro-NGO in Attappadi installed panels to keep devices alive during power cuts.

Still, without consistent state subsidies for hardware, digital pedagogy risks widening achievement gaps the public system spent decades narrowing.

6. The Mental-Health Check: Balancing Screen Time

Kerala paediatricians caution that daily screen exposure for 6- to 14-year-olds doubled to 3.2 hours between 2019 and 2023. Parents now design “screen detox” intervals:

• Offline chess or kodu (traditional board game) between Zoom and homework.
• Compulsory outdoor play before any recreational YouTube.

Several tuition centres market themselves as “blended-wellness academies”—50-minute smartboard sessions capped by 10 minutes of guided eye and spine stretches. Parents tour these facilities with as much scrutiny as they once reserved for labs.

7. Future Trends Parents Are Already Experimenting With

8. Strategies for Parents Navigating the Blend

1. Audit Before You Pay – Request a one-week trial of any ed-tech platform; track whether it complements school homework or merely duplicates it.
2. Set Non-Negotiable Offline Anchors – e.g., Sunday library hour or Friday tuition-centre lab practicals. Children thrive on rhythmic switches.
3. Data-Cap Discipline – Use router settings to auto-disable entertainment apps after 9 p.m., protecting both sleep hygiene and bandwidth for late-night doubt sessions.
4. Community Bargain – Form parent WhatsApp groups to negotiate group discounts with local centres or online providers; many slash fees 20 percent for cohorts of 10+.

Conclusion: Toward a Kerala Model 2.0

A quarter century ago, “getting tuition” meant cycling to a retired teacher’s porch at dusk. By 2025, it could just as easily mean logging into a Zoom breakout room with a mentor in another time zone—then cycling to a coding pod meet-up the next morning. Kerala parents are not abandoning traditional tuition culture; they are remixing it with digital efficiencies, cost math, and a laser focus on holistic well-being.

The story is still unfolding. Yet one constant endures: Kerala’s parents remain fierce champions of their children’s education, willing to embrace whichever blend of chalk, chip, or cloud best lights the way.