China’s education crackdown ‘only scratched the surface’ of what’s to come, former ministry spokesman says
- Beijing is taking drastic steps to upend the for-profit tutoring industry, but schools and parents are struggling to grasp how new policies will be implemented
- Some local-level authorities are already offering cash rewards for whistle-blowers who report after-school tutorial classes
Although Chinese regulators say they are determined to rein in the nation’s education sector, it remains to be seen how extensively local governments will implement new restrictive policies.
And then there’s the fact that similar, but more vague, administrative regulations – passed nearly a quarter-century ago – have been basically ignored and never strictly enforced.
Last month’s crackdown on private test-prep firms also raised a litany of concerns and unanswerable questions among schools and panicky parents alike, according to industry insiders.
A reversal of the situation is clearly out of the question, as the resolve of the nation’s top leaders appears to have hardened to an unbreakable point after years of pointed comments and criticism. President Xi Jinping has long denounced the after-school tutoring sector as disruptive, burdensome and in need of regulation.
The policy undoubtedly brings new challenges to school and parents, and I am afraid it will take quite a long time to implement
Some of the industry’s smaller players have already thrown in the towel, while publicly listed tutoring giants face a difficult and uncertain future in which some may be forced to shut down, according to experts.
