China tightens supervision over after-school programs

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China's Ministry of Education has adopted a set of measures to tighten scrutiny of after-school programs, in a bid to ensure proper schooling for children.

The ministry questioned executives of several leading after-school training institutions about their measures to ensure appropriate classes and prevent overcharging, a press release said Thursday.

Seven teams of inspectors have been dispatched to oversee local education administrations' implementation of the ministry's policies, the ministry said.

Primary school students in exams. /VCG Photo

The Chinese government launched the campaign in February to tackle the problem of courses in after-school programs being too advanced for students, putting too much pressure on the students.

Such programs caused unnecessary competition among students and forced parents to send their children to after-school classes even if they did not need to.

Training institutions were told to stop such programs, and local authorities were asked to blacklist poorly-behaved institutions.

A student checking curriculum at afterschool training classes. /VCG Photo

The campaign is expected to last until the end of June.

A report from the Chinese Society of Education estimated that after-school programs received more than 137 million students in 2016.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency