塾 (shú): private school (in old China)

Meanings

旧时孩子在私塾里读经书。

Jiùshí shú

In old times children studied the classics at a private school.

塾师教村里的孩子识字。

Shú

The private-school teacher taught the village children to read.

history

塾 refers to the old-style private school, 私塾, where a tutor taught a small group of children Confucian texts before modern public schooling existed.

radical

土 tǔ

earth; ground

土 is the earth radical at the bottom. It points to a building or structure raised on the ground, here the schoolhouse where lessons were held.

phonetic

孰 shú

who; which

孰 sits on top and supplies the sound shú, matching its own reading exactly. It carries the pronunciation, not the meaning.

塾 shú