New Oriental Photo: CFP

 
The decision by education company New Oriental to donate around 80,000 sets of school desks and chairs to rural schools and its closure of nearly 1,500 teaching locations was trending on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo on Monday. It came after the company announced its business transformation toward selling agricultural products. 

Since Chinese authorities rolled out a so-called "double reduction" policy in July in a bid to ease the burden and anxiety for students and implemented a slew of measures regulating the private tutoring industry, China’s private education companies have been adjusting their business structure. 

Analysts said that vocational education or switching to other industries are the main directions taken by education companies, although some have simply shut down. 

Yu Minhong, founder of New Oriental, announced during a livestreaming session on Monday that the company would establish a large platform to sell agricultural products through livestreaming sessions in which he and hundreds of teachers will participate, in order to support rural revitalization and help local farmers increase their professional skills. 

Yu also said on Sina Weibo that the company has donated nearly 80,000 sets of school desks and chairs to rural schools across the country and closed about 1,500 teaching locations due to its business adjustment. 

“New Oriental donating supplies to rural schools not only supports the schools and avoids waste, but also helps the company connect with more local resources in a bid to prepare for the launch of the agricultural platform and further map out its future direction in the rural education sector,” Zhang Yi, CEO of iiMedia Research Institute, told the Global Times on Monday. 

New Oriental's offline training business has been gradually scaling back, and it stopped recruiting primary and secondary school students altogether in September, according to media reports. 

But the move toward selling agricultural products does not mean that New Oriental has completely given up on the education industry, financial news outlet stcn.com reported on Monday. The company announced in September that it would upgrade its business targeting college students, covering major exams such as the College English Test. 

The market scale of quality education will gradually expand and it is expected that the compound growth rate of the industry will reach 20.5 percent and the market scale will reach 631.32 billion yuan ($98.65 billion) in 2022, according to data released by iiMedia Research Institute. 

Zhang noted that the market potential for quality education and vocational education is still strong, especially with the increase of the educated population, demand for talent and rising per capita disposable income in the future. 

A recently laid-off employee from an education company told the Global Times on Monday that she was inclined to leave the education industry and look for another job even though she received several invitations from education-related companies.

New Oriental Photo: CFP

The decision by education company New Oriental to donate around 80,000 sets of school desks and chairs to rural schools and its closure of nearly 1,500 teaching locations was trending on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo on Monday. It came after the company announced its business transformation toward selling agricultural products. 

Since Chinese authorities rolled out a so-called "double reduction" policy in July in a bid to ease the burden and anxiety for students and implemented a slew of measures regulating the private tutoring industry, China's private education companies have been adjusting their business structure. 

Analysts said that vocational education or switching to other industries are the main directions taken by education companies, although some have simply shut down. 

Yu Minhong, founder of New Oriental, announced during a livestreaming session on Monday that the company would establish a large platform to sell agricultural products through livestreaming sessions in which he and hundreds of teachers will participate, in order to support rural revitalization and help local farmers increase their professional skills. 

Yu also said on Sina Weibo that the company has donated nearly 80,000 sets of school desks and chairs to rural schools across the country and closed about 1,500 teaching locations due to its business adjustment. 

"New Oriental donating supplies to rural schools not only supports the schools and avoids waste, but also helps the company connect with more local resources in a bid to prepare for the launch of the agricultural platform and further map out its future direction in the rural education sector," Zhang Yi, CEO of iiMedia Research Institute, told the Global Times on Monday. 

New Oriental's offline training business has been gradually scaling back, and it stopped recruiting primary and secondary school students altogether in September, according to media reports. 

But the move toward selling agricultural products does not mean that New Oriental has completely given up on the education industry, financial news outlet stcn.com reported on Monday. The company announced in September that it would upgrade its business targeting college students, covering major exams such as the College English Test. 

The market scale of quality education will gradually expand and it is expected that the compound growth rate of the industry will reach 20.5 percent and the market scale will reach 631.32 billion yuan ($98.65 billion) in 2022, according to data released by iiMedia Research Institute. 

Zhang noted that the market potential for quality education and vocational education is still strong, especially with the increase of the educated population, demand for talent and rising per capita disposable income in the future. 

A recently laid-off employee from an education company told the Global Times on Monday that she was inclined to leave the education industry and look for another job even though she received several invitations from education-related companies.