China moves to reduce examination pressure faced by students

China has banned written exams for 6- and 7-year-olds as part of sweeping education reforms aimed at relieving pressure on students and parents in the hyper-competitive school system.

China's exam-oriented system previously required students to take exams from first grade onward, culminating in the college entrance exam at age 18 known as the gaokao, which is seen as a turning point of a child's life trajectory.

"Too frequent exams ... which cause students to be overburdened and under huge exam pressure" have been axed by the Ministry of Education, according to the guidelines released on Monday. The ministry said the pressure on pupils from a young age "harms their mental and physical health."

The regulations also limit exams in other years of compulsory education to once a term, with mid-term and mock examinations allowed in junior high school.

The measures are part of wider government reforms of the education sector, which include a crackdown on cram schools – seen by parents as a way to inflate their children's educational fortunes.

In July, China ordered all curriculum-based tutoring firms to turn non-profit, and barred tutoring agencies from giving lessons in core subjects on weekends and holidays. The aim was to reduce education inequality, where some middle-class parents fork out 100,000 yuan (US$15,400) per year on private tutoring to get their children into top schools.

Earlier, written homework was banned for first- and second-graders and assignments for junior high students were restricted to no more than 1.5 hours per night.