Estimating the impact of private tutoring on academic performance: primary students in Sri Lanka

Worldwide private tutoring is documented extensively, but its impact is unclear. I estimate the impact of tutoring on performance to assess the degree to which tutoring is a vehicle of educational stratification in Sri Lanka. I find that on average, five months of tutoring has no impact on Year 5 students’ exam scores. I produce suggestive evidence impacts vary only slightly with advantage; so its impact on stratification is likely minimal. Policy-makers may want to urge parents to reconsider sending their children to tutoring, and further research should identify stratification mechanisms.