Reducing Shanghai students' burden: Detailed measures unveiled
Shanghai on Tuesday released detailed measures to reduce students' burden from homework and after-school cramming. It includes requirements on improving education quality at school, extending after-school services on campus and limiting the operations of off-campus training organizations.
Here are the Shanghai Education Commission's answers to some most pertinent questions about the latest policy widely known as "double reduction," or reduction of the excessive burden on students from both homework and off-campus tutoring.
Q: What are the principles behind the "double reduction" measures?
A: It's to implement the plan of the Party Central Committee and the State Council to reduce the excessive burden on students from both homework and off-campus tutoring by coordinating on-campus and off-campus education and promoting all-round development and healthy growth of students.
The student-centered measures are in response to social concerns about ensuring students' right to rest and reducing pressure on parents.
It's also to enhance regulation on related institutions and deal with existing problems in education according to laws and regulations.
The government will now play a leading role and cooperate with other related parties. Supporting policies will be introduced to ensure implementation of the policy.
As a pilot city to implement the policy, Shanghai will take solid steps to address key and difficult problems and accumulate experience for other areas.
Q: What are the goals of the "double reduction" policy?
A: In one year, we aim to effectively bring both the volume and time for homework under control, make after-school services available at all schools in the nine-year compulsory education system and push online and offline academic tutoring organizations to operate within limits to reduce excessive burden from homework and off-campus tutoring on students while also easing family spending on education and parents' pressure.
By 2023, we hope to see improvement in school education quality, homework assignments that are proper and reasonable and after-school services on campus that basically meet students' need.
Q: What are the measures to reduce the volume of homework and the time students take to finish it?
A: We will establish home management mechanisms. Schools are required to work out management methods and display homework plan publicly with home content and time for finishing for students of each grade. The content that teachers teach should be in accordance with those in homework and exams.
It's banned to give assignments to parents or ask parents to check students' homework.
Schools are also asked to improve the quality of homework by introducing guidance on designing high-quality homework and establishing homework libraries, as well as encouraging teachers to innovate homework designs.
It's encouraged to design classified, flexible and individualized homework and provide tailored tutoring service for students who have difficulties in finishing the homework.
Schools can also use information technology in developing homework resources and sending them to students.
To control the amount of homework, schools have to coordinate homework of all disciplines. They should make sure not to assign written homework to first and second graders while the written homework for third to fifth graders should be such that it can be finished in no more than 60 minutes on average. The homework time for for middle school students should be under 90 minutes on average.
In primary schools, teachers should guide students to finish written homework on campus, and in middle schools, students should finish most of the written homework at school. Teachers should be aware of how students have learned and need to answer their questions prudently.
Each district has to develop homework monitoring methods and include homework in assessment of school performance. Education authorities also need to include teachers' work in homework design, review, explanation and tutoring into their performance assessment.
Schools should give full play to organizations such as youth leagues and young pioneer teams to guide students to do housework, sports, reading and cultural activities after school and use digital devices and the Internet properly.
Q: What measures has the city taken to promote quality and balanced development of compulsory education?
A: Shanghai has been adhering to the principle of enrolling students in the compulsory education system to schools nearest to their homes.
To balance the source of students, we have introduced policies to carry out admission processes in public and private schools at the same time in a unified system, and use random computer draw for private school admission when the number of applicants exceeds their recruitment plans.
Students are evenly divided into classes and it's banned to organize tests in student placement or set up key classes or experimental classes.
Prestigious schools are teamed up with less renowned schools to help development of the latter, with outstanding teachers and administrators working in rotation among members of the school groups. They also share quality teaching resources, research findings, sport and cultural venues, as well as innovation laboratories.
To improve the balance of education quality in different districts, the city has introduced unified standards in school building and allocation of facilities, teaching staff and their pay, and other governmental appropriations. It has also assigned outstanding schools, head masters and teachers to help the development of low-performing schools.
Q: How to make sure that students learn well in school?
A: Classroom teaching quality will be improved. We will enhance the connection between kindergarten and primary school education and continue to make sure primary schools teach what they have to according to the national curricula and not to increase or reduce classes randomly or enhance the difficulty or quicken the tempo in teaching. It's forbidden to finish teaching in advance to prepare for exams, organize unapproved tests, test students on knowledge beyond the curricula or rank students with exam scores.
Q: How to make good use of resources from inside and outside of schools?
A: District governments and schools are encouraged to offer after-school services for students to choose from based on their interests. They can also invite proper non-subject off-campus tutoring organizations to take part in supplying after-school services and establish a management and evaluation mechanism to lay off organizations that are deemed no longer proper.
Schools are also encouraged to integrate other off-campus resources, such as children's palace, youth activity centers and "Love Summer Camps" to provide services for students. The city will also guide universities, vocational schools, research institutes and enterprises to open their training centers, science education platforms and production lines for students to test and experience careers, do social services and receive career education.
Q: How to improve after-school services at schools?
A: We will make sure all public schools in the compulsory education system offer after-school services to all students in need. The services will be no less than two hours on workdays and end no earlier than the regular time for parents to come off work. Middle schools are encouraged to set up self-study classes in the evening on workdays. Schools can adopt flexible timetable for teachers.
Quality of the services will be improved. Teachers should utilize the after-school service time instructing students to do homework and tutoring those who are poor at studies or those capable of extended learning. They should not use the time for teaching new lessons.
Districts governments are encouraged to establish supporting system for after-school services. The services are usually delivered by school teachers, but schools lacking such teachers can hire retired teachers and qualified professionals.
Schools are encouraged to open their libraries, sport and cultural venues to students on national holidays, weekends and summer and winter vacations.
We will improve free online services for students, too. The city has set up the "Sky Classroom" platform which is free to the public. It will purchase quality online courses from third parties to provide resources for teachers to prepare for teaching and for students' individualized learning. We will organize teachers to answer students' questions via the Internet.
Q: How to enhance regulation on tutoring organizations?
A: The examining and approval process for application for the establishment of off-campus tutoring organizations will be enhanced. No new organizations that provide curriculum subject tutoring services to students from the compulsory education system will be approved. Existing organizations will be re-examined and registered as non-profit units after passing the examination and being approved for further operation.
Online subject tutoring service providers that were previously simply registered without examination will now be examined before approval, and those already registered will need to pass the examination in order to continue operation.
Non-subject training organizations will be examined with standards developed by administrating authorities.
Institutions providing subject tutoring services are not allowed to seek financing by listing on the stock market, while publicly listed companies are banned from investing in such organizations via the stock market or asset purchase.
Foreign capital is not allowed to control or hold shares in subject training institutions.
Unfair competition is banned and monopolistic practices will be punished in accordance with laws.
Pricing of off-campus tutoring will be strictly regulated. Prices of subject tutoring for compulsory education students will be included in the government price guide system.
A model contract for tutoring primary and middle school students will be promoted citywide and there will be a crackdown on practices such as use of unfair terms in contract and infringement of the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
The city will carry out third-party custody, risk reserves, and other pre-charge management to ensure security of students' tuition. It will also establish an early-warning and notification mechanism regarding large-scale fund flows to training institutions.
Regulations on loans in tutoring will be enhanced and tutoring organizations are banned from recommending or luring students to use loan products to pay tuition.
Monitoring of tutoring organizations will also be strengthened based on the government's one-stop service website. Authorities will carry out random inspections of organizations and punish irregularities according to law.
A credit administration system and a black list and a white list will be developed.
Advertising of tutoring organizations will be monitored. Mainstream media, online platforms, public spaces and billboards in communities will not allowed to publish off-campus tutoring advertisements. Commercial advertising activities are banned from kindergartens and primary and secondary schools. Advertising on textbooks, stationery, school units or buses is also prohibited.
Q: What are the measures to enhance regulate tutoring conduct?
A: There are requirements on tutoring times. Off-campus tutoring on curriculum subjects should not to be organized during national holidays, weekends or summer and winter vacations. Offline tutoring should end before 8:30pm and online training before 9pm. Each online class should be no more than 30 minutes and each class break should be at least 10 minutes.
Tutoring content will also be closely managed. The teaching content, teaching material and qualifications of teachers for subject tutoring should be registered.
Organizations are banned from teaching students ahead of the national curriculum schedule or providing overseas courses.
Non-subject tutoring organizations are banned from delivering subject tutoring services.
Tutoring providers should not organize, take part in or promote competitions that are not approved by authorities.
Cross-district or cross-organization tests for ranking students are also banned. Tutoring organizations should not hype tutoring achievements, such as students' certificates, test scores or enrollment into prestigious schools.
Administration of tutoring staff will be enhanced. Tutoring organizations should not lure teachers from schools with high pay. Subject tutors must have teaching qualifications.
When hiring expats they have to abide by national regulations while hiring expats to deliver tutoring classes directly from overseas is banned.
Q: What are the measures to regulate off-campus tutoring for students not from the compulsory education system?
A: It's prohibited to deliver any online training for preschool children, for whom offline subject tutoring is also banned.
Shanghai will no longer approve establishment of off-campus training organizations targeting preschool education or organizations providing tutoring services on high school curriculum subjects. Regulation on subject-tutoring for high school students is the same as for other students.
