WITH the consent of the city government, the Shenzhen Municipal Education Bureau recently released a document that strictly forbids off-campus training centers from organizing any sort of academic competition and providing results to primary or middle schools to supplement the student selection process.

The document sets a specific goal for strengthening supervision over training centers in Shenzhen to curb academic competitions in all subjects that might lead to deliberately selecting students based on their performances.

In China, primary and junior middle schools are compulsory education, and schools shall enroll the students living in the nearest neighborhood rather than based on academic performance.

According to the government, all training and tutorials on subjects including Chinese, math, English, physics, chemistry and biology must be regulated, and syllabi offered at training centers must not surpass those offered by the schools.

All off-campus training centers must register with the authority and have their business information saved at the education bureau.

Tutorials offered by training centers shall not take place during school hours and must be finished before 8:30 p.m., with each tutorial lasting less than two hours including a break every 45 minutes. Students shall not receive any homework from off-campus training centers.

Besides training centers, the document also requires all primary and middle schools to improve their pedagogies by focusing on cultivating students’ all-around abilities rather than only academic performance.

(Zhang Qian)