Coronavirus makes Chinese parents fearful of sending their children overseas to study

‘Parents always put their children’s safety as first priority, followed by the academic level of the schools,’ boss of marketing firm says

Covid-19 has also interrupted the opening of several international schools in China

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The coronavirus has made Chinese parents reassess their children’s education. Photo: AP

Published: 7:15am, 18 Dec 2020Updated: 2:27pm, 18 Dec 2020

The coronavirus pandemic has made Chinese parents wary of sending their children to study overseas and some are instead considering international schools in China, according to a marketing company in Beijing.

“Parents always put their children’s safety as first priority, followed by the academic level of the schools,” said Wu Yue, founder and chief executive of New School Insight (NSI) Media.

With Covid-19 still raging in the West, studying overseas was no longer an option for many Chinese students, she said.

As a result, international schools were becoming more appealing, as they allowed pupils who had returned after studying overseas to continue with a similar style of education, according to Fu Shipeng, founder of Londonke.com, a China-UK investment platform.

According to NSI, 907 international schools were registered with China’s education authority as of September this year, of which 113 accepted only foreign students.

NSI said 53 “pre-university international schools” were opened in China in the first nine months of this year, five of them targeting holders of overseas passports.