On Monday, the Chinese parliament banned private and for-profit schools that offer education for first grade to ninth-grade lessons as a way to tighten the government's control over education.
The education sector has been growing in the country for the past few years and investors have been flocking this industry given the relaxed restrictions imposed by the government. However, the government has noticed a problem on the quality of education in some schools and aims to reign in the sector which does not have a strong regulations mechanism installed.
All Chinese children are entitled to nine years of free and compulsory education from elementary up to junior high school. Students have a choice if they wish to enter private, profit-generating schools should they wish it. However, according to the new policy approved on Monday, these private,profit-generating schools can still be set up for other grade levels but not for the compulsory education level.
The adoption of the new law comes not only after the Shanghai government told 21 international and bilingual schools in Shanghai that they should offer Chinese specific subjects to their students.
According to Caixin News, legislators were inspired and motivated to create the new education law as they are concerned with the impact private schools could deliver when it comes to allowing Chinese children get access to basic education. It may also trigger inequalities in educational level.
Once the law is fully enforced, it is expected that 10,700 schools and 12 million students will be affected according to Caixin.
