Two years ago, Bi, the mother of an outdoor-loving kindergartener in Beijing, registered her son for English classes three times a week to give him what she described as “an immersion environment” to learn the language.
But now, as the Chinese government bans all tutoring related to school studies after school and on weekends and vacations, Bi, a middle school teacher who doesn’t speak English, has had to stop her son’s tutoring.
That’s especially troubling for Bi because learning English is mandatory in Chinese schools, and it’s one of four main subjects of the National College Entrance Examination, or Gaokao, which her son will take when he is 18. For most students in China, the exam is the sole determinant of whether they will be admitted to top universities in big cities, which often guarantee a better job with higher wages over the length of their careers. In a worst-case scenario, he could not be admitted into any university.
“What if he will not be able to keep up with his fellows,” asked Bi, who asked not to be identified by her full name out of fear of losing her job for speaking to a foreign media outlet. “The school only offers two, 30-minute English classes per week to first and second graders without any take-home assignment. We have to do something before he enters middle school.”
In the wake of the Chinese government crackdown on tutoring programs to alleviate stress on students, reduce families’ education costs and ensure equal access to education, Chinese regulators announced in June they would shut down the K-12 after-school tutoring industry. It’s a blow to a business that generated $123 billion in 2019, according to a 2020 report by the consulting firm Oliver Wyman.
The State Council, China’s highest executive body of state power, on July 24 officially banned all tutoring programs from teaching school curriculum such as English, math and Chinese, with few exceptions. Private tutors, who are often licensed public school teachers trying to make extra cash, are also banned from teaching off of their campuses.
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