New Delhi: A 500-page Global Education Monitoring UNESCO report, which was released on Monday has called for regulatory mechanisms for private tutoring in India and other countries.

It has said in its report that such a practice is “widening” the education gap between the rich and the poor. It has described private tutoring as one of the “professional misconducts” by teachers, besides absenteeism and acceptance of gifts.

“When teachers also serve as private tutors, it can create conflicts of interest that adversely affect learning. Private tutoring, paid out of one’s own pocket, widens the education advantage gap between the haves and have-nots,” the report said.

It pointed out that private tutoring could increase students’ academic burden and stress. The private tutoring is going to be worth over $200 billion by 2020 as a global industry and hence it needs to be regulated, the report added.

In India, in 2007-08, about 40 percent of urban secondary students received private tutoring, compared to about 26 percent of their rural counterparts.  It is also noteworthy that while a quarter is not completing lower secondary education,  there are 266 million adults and 33 million youngsters unable to read. Thus the report stressed on the need to address the “gaps and inequalities.”