THE MINISTRY of Education has banned primary and middle schools from providing students with any drill-and-review workbooks. An article published in Shenzhen-based Jingbao Daily comments:

It is not the first time the Education Ministry has banned curriculum workbooks featuring fill-in-the-blanks and define-the-term exercises in public schools in recent years. But the bans have not stopped the publishing of such workbooks from becoming a lucrative industry with an annual value of more than 50 billion yuan ($7.24 billion).

The root cause is the exam-oriented education system has remained largely unchanged, so the students and teachers favor these materials, as they are good for rote learning which helps the students prepare for their exams.