Families look forward to less crammed weekends
An empty Only Education study center on Sunday.
A number of off-campus tutoring organizations in Shanghai were empty over the weekend, the first weekend of the new semester, after the Ministry of Education and the city released new regulations to reduce burdens on students.
One of the measures bans organizations from offering tutoring on school curriculum subjects on weekends.
Many famous tutoring companies, including Shanghai Only Education Group, New Oriental and TAL Education Group, have announced they would abide by the regulations and stop offering such services on weekends. Some have decided to stop operations in anticipation of a reduced market.
At a study center of Only Education in a shopping mall in Minhang District on Sunday, Shanghai Daily saw no one sitting outside its entrance, which was usually fully occupied by parents waiting for their children.
A staffer said the center offers subject tutoring for third to 12th graders, but there were no longer students on the weekend now and they were only there to answer parents' inquiries.
Nearby was a center of QIWENEDU, which has announced bankruptcy. Its door was locked.
In contrast, in front of Elite Baby, an organization which advertises that it offers training to cultivate babies' comprehensive abilities including cognition, expressing and communication, many parents were sitting there and waiting for their babies.
A QIWENEDU branch is closed.
Li Qin, a mother of two boys aged 9 and 3, said she felt the regulations would have limited influence on such training organizations.
"I have stopped the weekend subject cramming classes for my older son since they face uncertainties and he now has only limited time for cramming on weekdays," she said.
"But the non-subject training organizations for my younger son, like this, are optimistic toward the future, so I would like to continue it and wait to see what will happen next."
Li said while she brought her younger son to the training class, her husband took their older son to a football training program on Sunday.
"We also watched a movie yesterday," she said. "It's good. We enjoyed the weekend."
Guo Qing, mother of a 3-year-old boy, said she and her husband took their son to the Jinjiang Amusement Park on Saturday and a cartoon exhibition on Sunday, together with the family of her friend.
"We had such gatherings frequently before and thought we had to rush between cramming schools as our children entered kindergarten," she said. "Thanks to the new policy, we can still have such enjoyment now."
Lu Tingting, mother of a 10-year-old girl, said her daughter now has more time to do what she likes on weekends.
"She has signed for a class for guzheng, (a 21-string traditional Chinese music instrument), one for calligraphy and another for dance," she said. "She likes it and said she was as happy with kindergarten life."
