Disguised extra teaching to be seriously punished as 'double reduction' enforced

China is expected to establish a long-term mechanism to completely root out disguised academic tutoring by June 2024, a new guideline said on Tuesday.

Jointly released by the Ministry of Education and eleven other departments, the guideline bans any advertisement for homestay tutors and one-on-one tutors for kindergarten pupils and primary and secondary school students.

Housekeeping enterprises should not include "home tutoring" of any form in their services, and primary and secondary school teachers are banned from providing paid tutoring classes, the guideline said.

Parents are advised to properly arrange their children's time of study, rest, entertainment and sports and not to participate in such academic tutoring, it said.

A joint-inspection mechanism will be established by multiple departments to deal with disguised academic tutoring at business centers and communities, especially during holidays, weekends, and summer and winter breaks, the guideline said.

A tip-off system will also be established and the public will be rewarded for offering evidence of major misconduct, it said.

Misconduct will be publicized at least every three months and the offending tutoring institutions will be included in a blacklist and the national credit information sharing platform, according to the guideline.

An official with the Ministry of Education's department for supervision of after-school tutoring institutions said, "Disguised academic tutoring such as home tutors and high-end housekeeping has become a blind spot in the tutoring regulation and hinders the progress of the 'double reduction' policy."

Local authorities have gained experience in regulating disguised academic tutoring. For example, authorities in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, and Hunan and Shandong provinces have released mobile apps that allow the public to take pictures of misconduct and report it to authorities, the official said.

Dealing with disguised academic tutoring will be included in the overall governance of grassroots communities and subdistricts to prevent tutoring at people's homes, hotels, coffee shops and rented housing, the official added.

Xue Eryong, a professor at Beijing Normal University, said authorities and schools should also actively offer guidance to students and parents.

Primary and secondary schools need to make good use of digital education resources and try to meet the diverse education needs of students with school-offered after-school services and daycare services during vacations, Xue said.

They should also actively guide students and parents to not participate in, organize or support academic tutoring, he added.