Smarter education as the market recovers

China’s off-line education market is recovering after the pandemic with the integration of online education and booming demand for personalized education.

Students have been returning to schools and offline tutoring services in China after the lockdowns, industry insiders told an education forum, part of a week of Smart City events in Shanghai.

“It is necessary to fully understand integrated education to build a high-quality education system in Shanghai,” said Qian Xiao, a director with the city’s economy and information technology commission.

The city aims to build a virtual school system, offer digital education resources, improve a lifelong learning system and strengthen the offline education system, Qian added.

Offline personalized education services, including one-on-one teaching, will continue to grow in China, with parents willing to pay for their children’s study and self-improvement.

This was the best way to solve targeted problems, stimulate students' initiative and ensure and consolidate learning effects, according to the OneSmart International Education Group. The New York-listed firm offers customized face-to-face tutoring services in China with over 20 million question banks and 7 million targeted teaching classes. 

China’s after-school tutoring market will begin to rebound next year with an annual growth rate of 14 percent, recovering to the level before the pandemic, according to researcher Frost & Sullivan. With the integration of online and offline services, the market will continue to enjoy double digit annual growth in the future, it said. 

OneSmart, which has set up over 300 tutoring centers nationwide, said it will continue to expand in the market with new centers and classes, especially high-end one-to-one services.