Wang Yuanyuan

    cheekywang@hotmail.com

    ABOUT 18,000 students on the mainland are now studying at home and are taught mainly by their parents, according to a recent research report released by the 21st Century Education Institute.

    Most of these children are at the age for primary school and most of their parents choose to teach them in this way because they don’t approve of the current school education system, the report said.

    Among these families, more than 50 percent think that the current school education system is “not good and not suitable for the healthy development of their children,” while nearly 10 percent think that school teaching is “too slow for their children.” About 8 percent think that their children don’t have enough attention and respect at school and about 6 percent of the families have children who are “sick of school life.”

    Besides those who choose to study at home over religious reasons (5 percent), 60 percent of these children used to study at traditional schools, and 35 percent have never studied at any schools.

    Around 62 percent of the children studying at home are boys and most of the children are aged around 4 to 10.

    More than 45 percent of them are taught by mothers and about 24 percent are taught by fathers, while 20 percent of them are taught by both parents. Only 1.69 percent are taught by professional tutors.

    Very few students choose to study at home after entering middle schools.

    The report also shows that most of these children are from families in Guangdong, Zhejiang and Beijing, as people in these areas have better educational backgrounds and more open educational prospects.