Shanghai, China – China is stepping up its efforts to reduce the number of educational companies traveling to the country in order to reduce student pressure and help address the growing problem.
The companies have been under pressure since March this year when President Xi Jinping also called after-school education a “social problem” and the Ministry of Education has put in place measures to reduce the burden on children and youth, urging parents not to send their children to school to teach and tell teachers to avoid giving their students homework.
For many parents, this move comes as a relief.
“We are pleased to see that the government has begun to listen to these charitable acts,” said Wu Xiaomei, a parent of two children in Shanghai. “We signed up for our children’s high school classes, especially when we were stressed out.
“We do not want our children to go backwards but it is a great stress not only for us but also for them, which is why these laws, we believe, will help us, even a little financially, to raise them.”
From school education began to gain popularity in the late 1990s when many Chinese students looked to develop their English skills to gain places in foreign universities; However, the companies started 10 years ago between a school competition with the best universities and a perception among parents that what was taught on a school day was not enough to help their children achieve their potential.
But the rising cost of living and the humane environment have also led many young couples to start a family.
The new measures – which are expected to be announced soon – will take place as soon as China allows each family to have its own. ana three, in comparison with the previous frontier that was at the center of Beijing’s anxiety over the outcome of older people on the economy.
The Ministry of Education has set up a non-academic education body at the school on June 15, which will oversee education activities including teachers and education. While there is little speculation, the new rules are expected to intensify and include a ban on online and offline teaching over the weekend, Reuters reporters said last week. Such classes exceed one-third of China’s secret education courses, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.
Strict advice has become a disaster for the multibillion-dollar global teaching business, after years of what many parents and even teachers themselves have called “wild-free growth”.
Shares in three leading businesses, New Oriental, Gaotu, and TAL have collapsed this year and several training companies, both offline and offline, have begun losing their jobs.
Workers from several locations confirmed to Al Jazeera that people were starting to lose their jobs.
It is not uncommon to pay hundreds of yuan for only one part of a special education course – and one tenth of what I earn per month. How do I pay?
Zhao Jiang, Chengdu leader
The bulk of the private tutoring season falls in the summer, with students often using a three-month school vacation to prepare for another course, but a source at a leading teaching company told Al Jazeera that more than 100,000 jobs could already be at risk then.
Companies that have recently promised new jobs to potential candidates are starting to withdraw their offers.
“I have already signed my rental contract and I was ready to move to Shanghai for my new job, but all of a sudden, I have no job,” said Du Lei, a graduate of Wuhan University who was planning to join Xueersi’s private private education company. He was told the job offer was canceled earlier this month.
“This is very painful, and I don’t know what to do now.”
Du is not alone; Of the more than half of those who come to various teaching companies that care for elementary and high school students, several told Al Jazeera that they were disappointed. A study in Weibo, a social networking site in China, revealed thousands of employees in major training institutions, both current and future, have discussed unemployment.
Academic failure
The government says it wants to reduce the amount of education for children and young people and prevent fatigue, but despite years of effort, the pressure has not gone away.
There are significant differences between education between Chinese cities, rural and rural areas, and between the rich and the poor.
Shanghai, for example, offers the best schools in China with a pool of student selection and a large section that goes to the top universities. Her schools are always the best in the world – called the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) – which follows the example of 15-year-olds in math, science and reading.
In areas like Guizhou, however, the poorest region in southwestern China, where most people live in rural areas, qualified teachers are in short supply and infrastructure is in short supply. Many children have to walk long distances a day to get to school.
There is a huge diversity of schools in China with institutions in Shanghai coming out on top in the global PISA screening for 15-year-olds, but rural areas lagging far behind [File: Tingshu Wang/Reuters]
From the outset, training companies have received increasing financial support – often from top-notch executives – working to pay for more teachers and to advertise their products on a number of platforms.
But parents said as companies grew, the cost of education rose to “unreasonable” levels and only the wealthiest, who had already been able to secure places for their children in the best schools, could now offer private education, widening the gap between those who are rich. above the people and those below.
Zhao Jiang, a parent in Chengdu, the capital of southwestern Sichuan, said: “I decided to send my son to mathematics because he is not doing very well.” ten of my monthly income. How can I pay for it? ”
While the goal of making education more affordable for the general public, many are skeptical that these new methods will prove to be effective, and some worry that these changes could exacerbate inequality.
“Once these laws are in place, it seems that only reputable companies can get permission from the government to continue working,” an expert who has worked for many years told Al Jazeera, and asked not to be identified. “And the price they pay will not be very friendly in a very wealthy family, which could promote social inequality.”
The government is concerned that students are under a lot of pressure from school and education and do not have time to do anything else [File: Aly Song/Reuters]
In addition to addressing the root causes of academic pressure among students and the decline in interest in Chinese children to have children, some psychologists say the guidelines should be a supportive group in supporting education and financial challenges.
“I do not believe that the problem is simply a matter of the child’s education industry,” said Han Dongyan, a Beijing-based education researcher.
“The pressure of education remains in spite of the strict rules in special education because without a change in education inequality, education is always a corporation, and people would not think that raising children would be cheap or easy.”
