Authorities in China have issued guidelines to further strengthen the regulation of off-campus non-academic tutoring programs for primary and secondary school students.
The document released jointly by 13 departments, including the Ministry of Education, stipulates provisions such as that non-academic tutoring programs may not include content involving school discipline, while training classes or lesson times may not overlap with school hours of primary schools and local schools. secondary school. The document also stipulates that offline training may not end later than 8:30 p.m., and online courses may not resume after 9 p.m.
According to the guidelines, training institutes for non-academic tutoring programs are not allowed to charge for a period of more than three months, 60 hours of class, or more than 5,000 yuan (US$716), through a lump sum payment or through disguised forms such as filling out prepaid cards.
Employees of these institutions are required to have vocational or professional qualifications, and teachers working for primary and secondary schools are not allowed to be employed by these institutions, read the guidelines.
While emphasizing the importance of strengthening the role of school education as the primary platform, and reversing the exam-oriented trend in education, the guidelines make it clear that results achieved in off-campus non-academic tutoring programs are prohibited from being tied to the admission criteria of primary and secondary schools, as well as institutions higher education.
It also aims to establish a basic policy framework for non-academic tutoring programs across the country by mid-2023, while improving routine oversight mechanisms. By 2024, he wants the burden of spending on families on related programs to be effectively reduced, and for non-academic training to be a useful adjunct to school education, according to the document.