{"id":16785,"date":"2021-08-11T16:04:08","date_gmt":"2021-08-11T20:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=16785"},"modified":"2021-08-11T16:04:08","modified_gmt":"2021-08-11T20:04:08","slug":"is-this-the-end-of-private-education-in-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/is-this-the-end-of-private-education-in-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Is This the End of Private Education in China?"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s a certain perception of the Chinese student as being incredibly diligent<\/strong> (\u52e4\u594b q\u00edn f\u00e8n). We hear about it on the news in the west all the time. Chinese students spend much more time on their studies and have been eating our lunch when it comes to test scores in major subjects like math<\/strong> (\u6570\u5b66 sh\u00f9 xu\u00e9) and science<\/strong> (\u79d1\u5b66 k\u0113 xu\u00e9). Having taught Chinese students for the past 11 years, I can attest to this. However, it looks like things are about to drastically change with recent announcements of crackdowns on after-school lessons. So is this the end of private education in China? In this post I’ll try to answer that question.<\/p>\n

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Students head to class in Beijing. Photo taken and used with permission from Sasha Savinov.<\/p><\/div>\n

A Brief Overview of Education in China<\/h2>\n

In China, education is very important<\/strong> (\u5728\u4e2d\u56fd\u6559\u80b2\u975e\u5e38\u91cd\u8981 z\u00e0i zh\u014dng gu\u00f3 ji\u00e0o y\u00f9 f\u0113i ch\u00e1ng zh\u00f2ng y\u00e0o). There is the state-run public education system, which falls under the control of the Ministry of Education<\/strong> (\u6559\u80b2\u90e8 ji\u00e0o y\u00f9 b\u00f9).<\/p>\n

The country has a compulsory education<\/strong> (\u4e49\u52a1\u6559\u80b2 y\u00ec w\u00f9 ji\u00e0o y\u00f9) system which says that all citizens must attend nine years of school. In most places, this is broken down into six years of primary education<\/strong> (\u5c0f\u5b66\u6559\u80b2 xi\u01ceo xu\u00e9 ji\u00e0o y\u00f9) followed by three years of secondary education<\/strong> (\u4e2d\u5b66\u6559\u80b2 zh\u014dng xu\u00e9 ji\u00e0o y\u00f9). Many students also attend preschool<\/strong> (\u80b2\u5e7c\u9662 y\u00f9 y\u00f2u yu\u00e0n) for a few years these days.<\/p>\n

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Me and my \u5c0f\u670b\u53cb\u4eec in class. Photo taken and used with permission from Sasha Savinov.<\/p><\/div>\n

After finishing three years of junior middle school<\/strong> (\u521d\u4e2d ch\u016b zh\u014dng), students can go a few routes. Students wishing to continue on to senior middle school<\/strong> (\u9ad8\u4e2d g\u0101o zh\u014dng) must take an entrance exam known as the Zhongkao<\/strong><\/em> (\u4e2d\u8003 zh\u014dng k\u01ceo). This is where education starts to get competitive in China, although most students who wish to go on to senior middle school will have the chance to do so.<\/p>\n

Other students choose to enter a vocational school<\/strong> (\u804c\u4e1a\u5b66\u6821 zh\u00ed y\u00e8 xu\u00e9 xi\u00e0o) to learn a skill, usually for two to four years. There has been a big push in the last few decades to increase and improve vocational training in China, especially for rural residents moving to urban areas to find work.<\/p>\n

For students who want to go on to university<\/strong> (\u5927\u5b66 d\u00e0 xu\u00e9), things get very competitive. The college entrance exam, known as the Gaokao<\/em><\/strong> (\u9ad8\u8003 g\u0101o k\u01ceo), is incredibly important. A student’s score on the Gaokao<\/em> determines whether they get into university at all, and the top schools require very high scores.<\/p>\n

Only a small percentage of students get a high enough score on the exam to attend one of the country’s most prestigious schools<\/a>, such as Peking University<\/strong> (\u5317\u4eac\u5927\u5b66 b\u011bi j\u012bng d\u00e0 xu\u00e9). Students who fail the exam actually have to repeat their senior year for a chance to take it again. As you can imagine, it’s an extremely stressful time for both students and parents alike.<\/p>\n

For more details on the Gaokao, be sure to read Ayana’s informative post<\/a>. Now that you understand the basics of the country’s public system, let’s get onto the details of the booming private education.<\/p>\n