How will Education Reforms in China Impact our work at GEC as well as the Educational Industry?

The Chinese government recently introduced a new rule, “Opinions on Further Reducing the Burden of Students' Homework and Off-campus Training in Compulsory Education", which sent shockwaves through the education sector within China and abroad.

 

This new rule mainly bars tutoring for profit in core school subjects during the phase of compulsory education, which is from kindergarten to the ninth grade. Existing online tutoring firms will be subject to extra scrutiny and after-school tutoring is prohibited during weekends, public holidays, and school vacations. Many policy analysts point out the rationale behind such strict rule is to ease pressure on school children and reduce the cost burden on parents that has contributed to a drop in birth rates.

 

Some faculty members of GEC Academy have also asked about whether the new rule will impact our business as well as our future development. Here are some of my personal thoughts.

 

In the short term, I don’t think the new rule is going to affect what GEC is doing. To begin with, this rule bans tutoring in core school subjects, which are subjects tested in major school entrance exams, such as Math, English, Chinese and etc. On the other hand, the programs GEC offer, including project-based group seminars, academic writing training, and IPQ, are all explorative learning programs. They aim at training students’ essential learning skills and logic thinking ability necessary for their further studies and career development. Also, the restriction is put on the compulsory education phase, which is K-9 in China. Whereas all our students are high school students, college students and beyond.

 

In the long term, I sincerely believe GEC Academy is going towards a promising future in the education sector. Besides the restriction put on private tutoring in core subjects and test preparation, the new rule is also encouraging innovative education initiatives that foster students’ diverse interests and holistic development. It is exactly in line with the design of our programs with our faculty at GEC Academy. Furthermore, since last year, we are expanding our cooperation with universities in China in offering diverse solutions to the universities’ unique need for cultivating innovative and globalized young talents. We have run special courses embedded in some departments’ core curriculum and provided teachers trainings to young lecturers at various colleges, among other new initiatives.

 

In the future, GEC academy will continue to welcome new ideas from our dear faculty, and foster a friendly yet exciting network of expertise in the international education sector. Foster a friendly yet exciting network of expertise in the international education sector.