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Chinese parents fear children’s English skills will suffer as schools cut back on language classes and tutors face crackdown
- Reforms designed to reduce the burden on pupils have worried parents who fear they will reduce their ability to communicate with the outside world
- Cuts to language teaching also come amid growing nationalist sentiment and a national debate about how useful it really is to learn English
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Chinese parents worried their children will lose out as a result of education reforms that have led to a reduction in the amount of time spent teaching English are looking for ways to make up the gap.
Although their options are further limited after a crackdown on private tutoring, they will not easily be deterred.
“Many parents, those who deem English as an important tool to help you connect with the world, are figuring out solutions to offset the impact,” says Stella Zou, who runs a 500-member social media group for those who share her concerns.
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Last year, she said her daughter took four English classes a week, supplemented by four further online sessions with US-based teachers through a private educational platform.
03:22
Crackdown on private tutoring leaves industry, students and parents drawing a blank
Crackdown on private tutoring leaves industry, students and parents drawing a blank
But when the new semester began last week, she found that the number of English classes had been cut to just three a week at her daughter’s public school in Beijing, while the online English sessions had fallen victim to a government crackdown on tuition companies.
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“English seems to be the subject hit the hardest by the education reforms,” she sighed.
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