Education ministry urges closing 'hidden' tutoring schools

Local education authorities should resolutely close down tutoring institutions disguised in other forms to conduct curriculum-based training for primary and middle school students, the Ministry of Education said on Wednesday.

While local governments have made progress in reining in after-school tutoring institutions amid ongoing efforts to reduce students' excessive academic burden, some institutions have tried to hide with new identities to avoid regulation, the ministry said in a notice.

Legal curriculum-based tutoring institutions should have an operation permit and business license. They should conduct training in registered locations and allocated time slots, hire teachers with teaching credentials and offer courses with approved teaching content, the notice said.

Tutoring institutions cannot conduct academic tutoring in the name of consulting, cultural promotion or housekeeping. No home tutors or crowd-funding tutors are allowed and there should be no academic tutoring during study tours, academic research tours, summer camps or tutoring for non-academic subjects, according to the notice.

Primary and middle school teachers cannot conduct paid tutoring and people without teaching credentials should not teach students academic subjects. Academic tutoring should not be carried out in residential buildings, hotels or coffee shops, the notice said.

Offline tutoring institutions should not conduct online tutoring via instant messaging, online conferences and live-streaming platforms. Online tutoring can only be live-streamed, without any recorded courses for further learning, it said.

Dealing with malpractice should be included in community patrol and law enforcement work. More public reporting channels should be opened and all violators will be dealt with and publicized, it added.