China’s ministry of education has released draft regulations for the country’s after-school tutoring industry, the first of its kind on a national-level stipulating the regulatory framework for the once booming sector.
Released Thursday before the Chinese New Year holiday, the 20-article draft is available for public comment until March 8. It comes more than two years after China launched a sweeping crackdown on the private tutoring industry in mid-2021, a move that changed the landscape of the sector.
The wide-ranging draft regulations for the first time specify the definition of after-school tutoring as “organized and systematic” training provided to K-12 students and preschool children aged from 3 to 6 years old outside the formal school education system.
The regulations classify after-school tuition into two categories － curriculum and non-curriculum subjects － both of which will be managed separately under specific rules set by relevant State Council administrative departments.
All county-level and above local governments are required to establish coordination mechanisms for regulating after-school tutoring, while the State Council’s education administration department is responsible for national macro management, according to the draft regulation.
After-school tutoring providers should seek administrative approval from county-level and above local governments, while online providers should obtain such approval from provincial-level governments. Those providing tutoring on K-9 curricular subjects should register as non-profit organizations, according to the draft.
In July last year, the education ministry set up a national platform for qualified after-school tutoring services, with more than 111,000 tutoring institutions approved by regulators. Parents can use the platform and its mobile app to search for and purchase courses.
Current K-12 and kindergarten teachers and researchers are not allowed to participate in the after-school tuition industry, while after-school teaching staff for curricular subjects should obtain official teacher’s certification, according to the draft.
All the after-school tuition providers are also required by the regulations to submit their training materials to government authorities to hold on record and are prohibited from using national holidays, weekends, summer and winter breaks for training purposes, according to the draft. They are also barred from arranging students to take grade exams or participate in academic competitions.
Under the regulations, fees for tuition on curricular subjects will be set under guidance from the government, while all the advance fees charged by the providers will also be put under government supervision.
In Beijing, local authorities already unveiled a plan in November to set a government pricing guide for online and offline after-school classes, with a benchmark and floating fees.
Moreover, the draft regulation also encourages after-school training providers to participate in school’s extra-curricular activities to meet students’ “diverse educational needs.”
After-school tuition for extra-curricular subjects, such as sports, is already supported by government authorities.
In late 2021, China’s General Administration of Sport (GAS) laid out a plan to encourage after-school sports training, with the aim of improving the management of sports classes, and “promote the healthy and orderly development of the sports training market.”
Contact reporter Lu Zhenhua (zhenhualu@caixin.com)
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