China tech crackdown: Beijing’s off-campus tutoring ban puts 90 per cent of firms out of business

Last July, Beijing launched a sweeping crackdown that essentially stifled the industry, by banning the provision of holiday and weekend training

Industry insiders said it has not truly reduced burdens on Chinese students and their parents, as competition for quality education remains fierce in society

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This picture taken on July 29, 2021, shows students and parents at a private after-school education centre in the Haidan district of Beijing. Photo: AFP

Published: 5:30pm, 1 Mar 2022Updated: 9:47pm, 1 Mar 2022

China’s Ministry of Education, which last summer banned off-campus tutoring firms from making a profit, released figures that showed the number of these bricks-and-mortar classrooms has plunged 92 per cent since the crackdown.

The number of companies providing offline tutoring services plummeted to 9,728 by the end of February, compared with about 124,000 before the crackdown, according to the ministry’s Off-Campus Education and Training Department, which was created last year to oversee the once booming industry.

At the same time, the number offering online courses fell 87 per cent to 34 from 263, the regulator said on Monday.

To better regulate the tutoring industry, the department would “firmly prohibit the mandatory purchase of digital devices and services for parents and students”, Lü Yugang, an official from the ministry who oversees basic education, said on Tuesday.

Last July, Beijing launched a sweeping crackdown that essentially stifled the industry, by banning the provision of holiday and weekend training, ending the establishment of new tuition centres, and preventing companies in the sector from raising capital through initial public offerings.

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