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After School Training Centers – Where Are We Now?
The Announcement of the ‘Double Reduction’ Policy Devasted the Industry, But What State Are China’s Training Centers in Now? By Alistair Baker-Brian
W
hen the government announced new regulations for China’s after-school training centers in 2021 (the ‘double reduction‘ policy), That’s published an article examining the impact it could have on the industry. We ended that piece stating that “it’s sink or swim,” meaning businesses in the industry would have to adapt to new regulations or perish. It seemed that an industry integral to education in China was about to be turned on its head. While there have been changes, it hasn't all been doom and gloom. Moreover, some big players which were expected to close are still running. One year on from the first rumours of the shake up, we thought now would be a good chance to take a look at some of the main changes to China’s afterschool training centers and the tutoring industry.
A Reminder of the Rules
On July 23, 2021, news of the rules were reported in Reuters. It was later confirmed by China’s Ministry of Education that the ‘double reduction‘ policy would come into force, effectively banning for-profit training centers from teaching core subject materials to kindergarten, primary and middle school students. 10 |AUGUST 2022
“Which subjects are core subjects?” you ask – ethics and the rule of law, history, geography, Chinese, mathematics, foreign languages (including English, Japanese and Russian) and science (biology, physics and chemistry). Why the need for the ‘double reduction‘ policy? As suggested in the name, there were two things which needed to be reduced, according to the government – the academic burden on students and the financial burden on parents. Anyone who has spent time in China, especially those working in the education sector, knows how much kids here study. Most of their day is spent in school and then when the home time bell chimes, they head to training centers and homework clubs. Why? More studying presumably makes you smarter, but more importantly, the more extracurricular activities you do, the more attractive you are to top schools and universities. The second burden is a hindrance to the government’s desire for more Chinese people to have children. Training centers aren’t cheap and more people are opting not to have kids, citing the costs of raising them as one of the main reasons.
