A Parents peer through the fence of an elementary school in North China's Tianjin on the first day of the fall semester on Wednesday. Schools across China welcomed students back after China rolled out the "strictest measures in decades" to ease students' burden. Photo: IC

China's Ministry of Education vows to resolutely clamp down on illegal after-school curriculum-based tutoring services, targeting primary and high school teachers who are illegally conducting paid after-school tutoring and illegal tutoring organized in residential compounds, hotels, café shops or online, according to a notice issued by the ministry on Wednesday. 

The notice was issued after some cities including Southwest China's Chengdu punished some 30 high school teachers for offering after-school curriculum subject tutoring in private tutoring agencies. 

According to the website of the ministry, some private tutoring businesses have gone underground and are illegally offering academic after-school tutoring disguised as "housekeeping," "resident tutors," "fundraising private courses" and "study tour," which is seriously disturbing the implementation of the "double reduction" policy, a policy aimed to ease burdens on students. 

The Chinese government has been rolling out a slew of measures since July, described as the "most stringent in decades" by Chinese analysts, to ease burdens and anxiety for students and parents alike, including suspending off-campus curriculum subject tutoring courses for students on national holidays, and reducing the frequency of exams. 

The ministry's notice on cracking down on covert illegal academic after-school tutoring services listed seven illegal types, including tutoring firms offering online courses through livestreaming platforms and online conferences, organizing one-on-one curriculum subject courses in places such as residential buildings and hotels and primary and high school teachers offering paid courses. 

Local education departments are advised to establish professional committees to identify covert illegal tutoring businesses. Each illegal tutoring business discovered will be reported and punished, the notice said. 

Shortly before the notice was issued, Chengdu education authority in Southwest China's Sichuan Province punished 30 teachers from a foreign language high school in Tianfu district for offering after-school tutoring in private tutoring agencies. Those teachers were either removed from posts, disqualified in distinction teachers' evaluation or had their professional ranks downgraded, local media reported this week.  

Global Times