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or years, students have reached out to conventional private tutors and tutoring companies to help them with school and prepare them for admissions tests for higher education.

But now, tech-savvy students have found that tutors are just one click away on their laptop or smartphone as they take up online tutoring services to help them excel at school.

With the entrance test for state universities just months away, Safina Azra Sabardiman, a student at SMA 3 Cirebon state high school, West Java, takes afterschool courses every Tuesday and Friday from 4 to 8 p.m. to prepare for the test.

With the dream of entering the School of Medicine at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta next year when she graduates, Safina has also registered herself with e-tutoring service zenius.net.

“It helps me a lot. I can access it anytime, anywhere with my smartphone. In the car, even in the toilet,” Safina said, “I also get bored easily if I have to read text books, so this is the best way for me to learn.”

The service provides her various tasks and methods to complete them. The web service helped her understand more about the material than a textbook, Safina said, adding the explanations were delivered by teachers through video in a “cooler lo-gue-lo-gue friendly way”, which she finds easier to understand than her teacher at school.

“The other day I found it difficult to understand the chapter about cells in my biology class. It will be embarrassing for me to ask over and over again for an explanation from my teacher in class, but with Zenius I can study alone and repeat the explanation as many times as I want until I really get the idea. When I forget I can always watch the explanation again,” Safina said.

Another student from SMA 1 Cibinong state high school, West Java, Nopa Hoerunnisa, 17, said she and many of her classmates had been using Ruangguru for almost a year.

She relies a lot on Ruangguru to get a better understanding of topics that she does not understand at school.

Ruangguru, an education technology startup established in 2014, is a popular online service with over 10 million users across the nation.

Nopa, who dreams of studying at Padjadjaran University in Bandung when she graduates, said Ruangguru allowed her to manage her study time as she wished.

“I can have a break when I want and I can study subjects for as long as I want. Honestly, studying through my smartphone makes me more eager to learn than if I have to sit in the classroom,” she said.

Ruangguru cofounder Muhammad Iman Usman said the idea behind the startup was the fact that not every school or teacher across Indonesia had the same quality. The gap can be seen from the acceptance rates at the best universities where students from big cities take the most places.

“The question is how can everyone have the same access to education so anyone, wherever they are, has the opportunity to get the best education. Technology makes it possible and with Ruangguru we want people to have access to materials, videos, exercises, exam preparation and much more at an affordable price,” he told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

A 2018 market research report by London-based TechNavio said the global online tutoring market was expected to experience 14 percent compound annual growth between 2018 and 2022.

In the report, TechNavio said mobile-based tutoring in particular would experience high growth.

“The growing popularity and continuous rise in the adoption of smartphones and tablets have boosted m-learning. Learners can easily access course content anywhere and anytime, owing to the ease of use and the increased flexibility offered by m-learning,” the report said.

Realizing the high demand for online tutors, in 2018 the Education and Culture Ministry launched its own learning application called Rumah Belajar, which can be downloaded for free on Play Store and Apple Store. It can also be accessed at belajar.kemdikbud.go.id.

Subdivision head of the Communication and Technology Center at the ministry, Hendriawan, said Rumah Belajar had more than 11 million users, both teachers and students, with 80 percent using their smartphone to access it.

“The number of users continues to increase and it is now more user friendly for mobile phone users. It’s more fun using the app for learning,” he told the Post.

The ministry recently assessed 6,800 teachers at schools with adequate information and communication technology (ICT) facilities across Indonesia. The assessment showed that only 40 percent of teachers understood ICT and how to use it in the classroom.

“There might be many educational technologies to aid learning, but teachers still have the main role in education. Therefore, teachers must adjust to student’s learning style,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Teacher Unions Federation deputy secretary-general, Satriwan Salim, said the fact that students and parents were still looking for additional courses outside school should be seen as a criticism for schools and teachers.

“That means students see that the educational services at schools are not enough for them. That’s why schools and teachers must realize this and improve teaching quality,” he said.