China to Reward Informants Reporting Illegal Private Tutoring... Declares 'War on Private Education'

It has been two years since China launched a crackdown on private education to reduce the burden on parents, but illegal supplementary classes and tutoring are still rampant. In response, authorities have launched a large-scale crackdown, including offering rewards to those who report illegal tutoring.

According to Chinese media such as Pengpai News on the 27th, recently, Huiyuan Middle School in Suining County, Jiangsu Province, was caught by authorities for conducting supplementary classes for second-year students during the summer vacation on campus.

In response, the Suining County Education Bureau immediately ordered the suspension of supplementary classes and launched an investigation. The school was also set to receive a failing grade in its evaluation.

Authorities particularly judged that the school failed to implement the 'Shuangjian (雙減)' policy, which aims to reduce students' homework and tutoring burdens, thereby negatively affecting students' physical and mental health.

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Earlier, in early July 2021, the authorities implemented the Shuangjian policy to reduce the homework and tutoring burden on middle school students and strictly regulated private education to ease the financial burden on families. As a result, after-school private education for essential subjects, including English academies, was banned, leading most related companies and academies to close.

Meanwhile, in major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, illegal one-on-one tutoring by famous instructors who previously worked at large academies has been thriving to evade the crackdown. It is reported that some wealthy families even hire live-in tutors disguised as domestic helpers.

Given this situation, there are criticisms that private education expenses have actually increased significantly after the Shuangjian policy, exacerbating the financial burden on parents. Some also criticize that educational inequality has deepened due to the vast 'private education black market.'

Nevertheless, despite such criticisms, authorities continue to intensify their crackdown on private education. The Education Bureau of Qichun County, Hubei Province, recently offered rewards to encourage reporting of illegal tutoring or supplementary classes. If a teacher or private education institution conducting illegal tutoring is reported and confirmed, the informant will receive 10,000 yuan (approximately 1.78 million won).

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In South Korea as well, issues related to private education expenses have surfaced amid controversies over killer questions (extremely difficult questions) in the College Scholastic Ability Test.

In particular, to reduce the historically high burden of private education expenses, the Ministry of Education announced measures to alleviate private education on the 26th of last month. The measures focus on ▲ realizing a fair College Scholastic Ability Test ▲ intensively responding to private education cartels ▲ supporting exam preparation within public education.

Meanwhile, last year, private education expenses for elementary, middle, and high school students increased by about 10% compared to the previous year, marking the highest level since the survey began in 2007.

According to the '2022 Elementary, Middle, and High School Private Education Expenses Survey Results' announced by the Ministry of Education and Statistics Korea in March, last year's total private education expenses amounted to 26 trillion won, a 10.8% increase from 23.4 trillion won in 2021.

Additionally, the participation rate in private education rose to 78.3%, up 2.8 percentage points from the previous year, and the average monthly private education expense per student was 410,000 won in 2022, an 11.8% increase compared to the year before.

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