Choosing a Home Tutor in Bangladesh: 9 Questions to Ask First

A home tutor spends more one-to-one time with your child than most of their schoolteachers will. Families routinely commit to that after a brief phone call about price and days.

Ask these instead. Ten minutes now saves a wasted term.

1. Which university and department, and which year?

Not "are you a university student" — the specific institution and subject. For Physics and Higher Maths, an engineering university student. For Biology and Chemistry, a medical college student. This single answer predicts teaching quality for SSC and HSC subjects better than anything else you can ask.

2. When did you sit SSC and HSC, and under which board?

A tutor who sat the same board three years ago knows the current question pattern. One who sat it twelve years ago is teaching from memory of a syllabus that has changed.

3. Which chapters do students usually struggle with in this subject?

The best question on this list. A tutor who has genuinely taught the subject answers immediately and specifically — "vectors, and applying calculus to motion". A tutor who has not gives you something vague about practice and hard work.

4. How will you find out what my child does not know?

Listen for a plan: a diagnostic in the first week, working backwards from the last exam script, going through the previous class's foundation chapters. "I will start from the beginning of the book" is not a plan, it is a default.

5. Which areas do you actually travel to?

Not where they live — where they will reliably go on a wet Tuesday in July. A tutor crossing the city for one hour will quit within two months, and the disruption costs your child more than the search did.

6. What exactly is included for the fee?

Days per week, hours per session, whether exam-time extra sessions are included, and what happens if a class is missed. "Tk 6,000 a month" means nothing until you have agreed all four.

7. How will you tell me how my child is doing?

The best tutors report weekly without being asked. Agree the format now — a message after each week, or a short call each month. Without this you find out at the exam, which is too late.

8. Have you taught this class level before, and what happened?

Ask for one specific example: which student, which subject, what changed. Specific answers are usually true. Vague answers usually are not.

9. Can we do a trial week?

Any confident tutor says yes. Use it properly: sit nearby for part of the first session, then ask your child two questions afterwards — did you understand, and did you feel comfortable asking when you did not.

The things to check that are not questions

Verify identity. Ask for the student ID or national ID and keep a photograph of it. A tutor who objects to this is telling you something.

Watch the first session. Not the whole hour, and not intrusively. You are checking one thing: does your child speak, or only listen? A silent child is not learning.

Agree a payment date and keep it. Late payment is the most common reason good tutors leave, and it is entirely within your control.

Use the trial period honestly. If the fit is wrong, say so in the first week. Every family that tells us in month three says they knew in week one.

Where to start

Browse verified home tutors — each profile shows university, department, subjects, class levels, areas covered and their own rate, so questions 1 and 5 are answered before you call.

Or post your tuition and we will match you with suitable tutors within 24 hours. Your phone number is never made public.