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The pandemic will spur the worldwide growth of private tutoring. Time lost to school closures has added to parents’ worries

Siina karbin, a Finn living in Vienna, had never imagined paying someone to tutor her children. But then in early 2020 Austria’s schools closed because of covid-19. She and her husband struggled to help their seven-year-old son learn remotely while also doing their own jobs. Ms Karbin signed the boy up for one-to-one online tutoring provided by GoStudent, an Austrian startup, assuming he would do it for a few months. A year and a half later her son is back in school, and also still enjoying a weekly session with his tutor. He tells his mum he is keen to carry on with it.

As a new school year gets under way in many countries, the harm caused by the months of closures is becoming ever clearer. In America primary-age pupils are on average five months behind where they would usually be in maths, and four months in reading, according to McKinsey, a consultancy. The damage is almost certainly worse in places such as India and Mexico, where the disruption to schooling has been greater. Even before the pandemic parents around the world were growing more willing to pay for extra lessons in the hope of boosting their children’s education. The crisis will accelerate that trend.