His Kannada worksheets get finished but he still can't read a sentence on his own

Son is 8, Kannada is his second language at school. Neither of us reads Kannada, so a tutor comes twice a week and the worksheets get done, neat handwriting and all. Teacher is happy with the homework. But put a simple sentence in front of him and he can't read it alone. The homework is getting done. Nobody is teaching him to read. Woh khud se ek line nahi padh paata. Has anyone asked a tutor to drop the worksheets and just do reading basics for a while? Did the school mind if homework suffered for a few weeks?