TECHNOLOGY
It's around 9 pm and quite dark outside. People are slowly leaving for home after closing their shops and offices in the busy commercial plaza in central Lahore. The occupants of offices are coming downstairs or taking elevators to reach the ground floor. But right at that moment two young men in their early 30s, donning small beards, reach the parking lot and descend from their motorbikes. They are clad in white shalwar qameez and wear a black jacket over it. Without wasting their time they head towards the elevator and on entering it press the button that would take them to the floor where their office is.
Interestingly, they come here at this time on every working day and leave early in the morning after finishing their work.
For those who may get curious about this routine, the explanation is that both these are certified teachers of Quran and use the internet-based facilities provided in this office to teach Quran to students based overseas including those in countries like UK, USA and Canada. Both of them earn between Rs 30,000 per month to Rs 50,000 per month and the amount fluctuates during different months of the year.
Their office set up on the third floor of the plaza has dedicated broadband internet connection, around a dozen desktop computers and laptops, headphones and microphones, sound proof cabins/partitions and so on. The mind behind all this, Muhammad Usman, is an IT professional who has a strong base of clients abroad, who want to get their children taught by qualified teachers of Quran. Here in Lahore he hires teachers to teach Quran to students via skype and charges a commission from them.
This is just one example of how technology is helping people earn well and find opportunities overseas, especially when the options are getting limited in the country. Just like teaching Quran, there are individuals and organisations offering online tutoring in different subjects to overseas students at affordable rates. These rates are affordable for the overseas people but far more than what are available in the local market, making it a win-win situation for both.
Usman tells Money Matters that many Pakistani or South Asian parents in the Western world want their children to learn Quran with translation. As it is not easy to find quality teachers of Quran in the West where fees could be unaffordable, learning via skype is the best possible option. He says rates charged are different and can be much higher for learning tajweed and tarteel and less for simply learning to read holy text.
Over the years many organisations have entered the arena and the "Online Quran Explore Academy" is one of these that invites applications from both teachers and students and do the required matchmaking.
Another venue for earning that has emerged over the years is online tutoring. Now teachers expert in different subjects offer personalized teaching services to overseas students via Skype.
There are websites like PakistaniTutors.com and Pakistanonlinetuition.com that market tutoring programmes offered by Pakistani teachers to Indian/ Pakistani students living in countries like Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, USA, UK, Qatar etc. Many expatriates who have plans to ultimately return to their homeland are interested in teaching Pakistan's national and provincial languages to their children. This offers openings to language teachers in the country.
Arslan Hashmi, co-founder, EHOST-a web hosting company says teaching via Skype is a great learning option. A large number of Pakistani Qaaris are teaching students in Europe, US and Australia and using skype to interact with them. They charge on per hour basis.
Hashmi says earning amount in online teaching depends on the ability of the teacher, his education and subjects that he teaches. Even students are teaching online to students abroad and easily earning up to Rs 30,000 per month.
He adds it is the easiest way of teaching and learning which does not have a formal enrolment procedure like in educational institutions. "Students approach the teacher via email, whatsapp or facebook. The teachers offer a trial session on skype and once the students and their families are satisfied, the classes start.
Hashmi explains there is huge scope in Gulf as Pakistanis living there are facing problem in getting quality education.
The Federal Education Board of Pakistan offers admissions to Pakistanis living in Gulf. For the course study work students join some Pakistani schools where the teaching qualities are not up to the mark. So to fill this gap, many Pakistani university students offer online classes for Physics, Maths and Computer Sciences to students in the Gulf region via Skype.
He says many university students are earning well by online tutoring. They even can easily manage their semester fee with that, he adds.
Khalid Malik, a teacher who excels in business management studies, believes Pakistani teachers are highly capable of catering to needs of the growing diaspora of expatriate via skype. They can handle these students better as they can understand their psychology, he adds.
Malik shares that he and his colleagues are developing an online platform where online tutoring offers will be formalized and the ad hoc system will be done away with.
He says they will develop websites that will have details of teachers, their flexible timelines, subjects they can teach and so on so that aspiring students have myriad options to choose from, he adds.
No doubt, internet offers endless opportunities to fertile minds to do constructive work but it has not been utilized to its full potential. For example, there are a large number of educated women confined to their homes after marriage or due to cultural barriers.
They can also be engaged in online tutoring that can help them supplement the family income as well as make best use of their free time.
The writer is a staff member
