https://www.sohu.com/a/482233135_120201386
Original article in Chinese. Still reads fairly accurately if translated to English.
This article basically states that 8 government bodies have come together and released a document that has plans for private schools to be assimilated as public schools within 2 years.
I know that there's a lot of speculation going around and there's lots of instability in the pandemic-era teaching market. As some of you may know, China, which has historically been a massive market, has been clamping down hard.
Just wondering if anyone on the ground has heard anything confirming that any school that is not a T1 (open to mainly foreign passport holders) is going to shut or restructure in the next two years, as this article implies? AKA doomsday scenario, flooding the rest of the markets at the same time.
How concerned should we be?
I'll be clear and say I probably know nothing. I just saw this and some other articles online, and there's quite a bit of panicking in other parts of the internet, like Reddit and Facebook. Forgive me if I'm fearmongering.
End of Non-T1/T2 Schools in China? Or Just Rumors?
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PurpleHaze
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Fri Nov 13, 2020 10:34 am
Re: End of Non-T1/T2 Schools in China? Or Just Rumors?
I have major reservations about the authenticity of this post (it's a sohu thread - think twitter on steroids!), but to be honest China is an authoritarian government so anything is possible.
To know if it's real - we'll start to see things in the China centric English press a couple of months before. Something similar happened when China introduced the A/B/C foreign visa scheme in 2017/18 from memory.
I'm probably wrong but I've noticed the following with major crackdowns in China. It often goes in the following direction.
(1) Major articles start to appear in Xinhua and to a lesser degree the Global Times about a specific vice that is affecting Chinese society.
(2) Some time and major tea leaf reading normally occurs with Chinese and the foreign press/expats trying to work out what is going on.
(3) 6 months later - a new law or strengthening of an older law occurs.
Something similar was seen with the severe restriction of gaming for kids that started a couple of days ago. Is there a problem in China with kids spending too much time (but the money spent on micro-transactions has probably got a lot to do with it) on computer games? Yes probably - but China makes it's own rules and it does not have the same western ideals of personal liberties.
To know if it's real - we'll start to see things in the China centric English press a couple of months before. Something similar happened when China introduced the A/B/C foreign visa scheme in 2017/18 from memory.
I'm probably wrong but I've noticed the following with major crackdowns in China. It often goes in the following direction.
(1) Major articles start to appear in Xinhua and to a lesser degree the Global Times about a specific vice that is affecting Chinese society.
(2) Some time and major tea leaf reading normally occurs with Chinese and the foreign press/expats trying to work out what is going on.
(3) 6 months later - a new law or strengthening of an older law occurs.
Something similar was seen with the severe restriction of gaming for kids that started a couple of days ago. Is there a problem in China with kids spending too much time (but the money spent on micro-transactions has probably got a lot to do with it) on computer games? Yes probably - but China makes it's own rules and it does not have the same western ideals of personal liberties.
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PurpleHaze
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Fri Nov 13, 2020 10:34 am
Re: End of Non-T1/T2 Schools in China? Or Just Rumors?
Thanks for a level-headed response, sciteach.
There was actually an article published 5 days ago by the Financial Times discussing possible curbs on UK-Centric Bilingual programs, including schools like Harrow's.
https://www.ft.com/content/8bba46b4-16a ... f10e2d16cb
The most alarming passage is as follows:
" The central government in May stopped approving new private schools for the compulsory, or first nine of 12, years of education and last month at least four provinces said there was a goal to cut the proportion of children who attend such schools from more than 10 per cent to less than 5 per cent by the end of the year. "
Right off the bat, however, this is reported as simply a restatement of news that happened months ago, as opposed to something that was announced just this week. The article mentions a lot of remarks from interviews with leadership in a number of British bilingual / international programs, so it does read as a bit of a speculative piece.
I'll also admit that I am more paranoid than most, and it seems like only a couple dozen others across the entire internet have actually sounded the alarm, so to speak, over this news.
Maybe there's too much to keep up with and coverage results in nothing but whiplash for the average news reader.
Maybe ignorance is bliss. I still see hundreds of job openings and advertisements for positions in China (for those in country, anyway) even for sectors that were supposedly stomped on, such as training centers. If it weren't for these kinds of articles, it wouldn't seem like there was a lot to be panicked about.
There was actually an article published 5 days ago by the Financial Times discussing possible curbs on UK-Centric Bilingual programs, including schools like Harrow's.
https://www.ft.com/content/8bba46b4-16a ... f10e2d16cb
The most alarming passage is as follows:
" The central government in May stopped approving new private schools for the compulsory, or first nine of 12, years of education and last month at least four provinces said there was a goal to cut the proportion of children who attend such schools from more than 10 per cent to less than 5 per cent by the end of the year. "
Right off the bat, however, this is reported as simply a restatement of news that happened months ago, as opposed to something that was announced just this week. The article mentions a lot of remarks from interviews with leadership in a number of British bilingual / international programs, so it does read as a bit of a speculative piece.
I'll also admit that I am more paranoid than most, and it seems like only a couple dozen others across the entire internet have actually sounded the alarm, so to speak, over this news.
Maybe there's too much to keep up with and coverage results in nothing but whiplash for the average news reader.
Maybe ignorance is bliss. I still see hundreds of job openings and advertisements for positions in China (for those in country, anyway) even for sectors that were supposedly stomped on, such as training centers. If it weren't for these kinds of articles, it wouldn't seem like there was a lot to be panicked about.
Re: End of Non-T1/T2 Schools in China? Or Just Rumors?
It's hard to predict what the CCP will do next. It's definitely possible this is just a bit of saber rattling and that things will die down without escalating.
However, I will say that in the past few years, China has definitely been drifting towards a more nationalistic approach to education. It's gotten to the point where even Chinese parents are slightly concerned. The ISs in my area have taken any sort of world history/global politics subjects off their curriculum as a precaution. So it's not impossible that regulations will tighten in the next couple of years.
However, I will say that in the past few years, China has definitely been drifting towards a more nationalistic approach to education. It's gotten to the point where even Chinese parents are slightly concerned. The ISs in my area have taken any sort of world history/global politics subjects off their curriculum as a precaution. So it's not impossible that regulations will tighten in the next couple of years.
Re: End of Non-T1/T2 Schools in China? Or Just Rumors?
I think it depends (like much in China) on where you are and who you know in power. I know of a couple of schools which are making specific preparations for a switch to a more Chinese-based curriculum, and equally other (T1) schools who are fairly confident they're not covered.
The thing is that the parents at the private schools - and particularly the so-called 'rent a name' schools - believe that they are paying for the education that the mother school provides, including things like IGCSE. If these schools can't provide it, they are not going to be happy - the parents who can will send their kids off to the UK/US boarding schools earlier, and those who can't will either just perservere or remove the kids to the state system (after all, if the kids are using the same textbooks, being taught the same lessons, and sitting the same exams, where's the sense - other than pride - in paying £30,000 per year for it if you can get it for nothing?)
The thing is that the parents at the private schools - and particularly the so-called 'rent a name' schools - believe that they are paying for the education that the mother school provides, including things like IGCSE. If these schools can't provide it, they are not going to be happy - the parents who can will send their kids off to the UK/US boarding schools earlier, and those who can't will either just perservere or remove the kids to the state system (after all, if the kids are using the same textbooks, being taught the same lessons, and sitting the same exams, where's the sense - other than pride - in paying £30,000 per year for it if you can get it for nothing?)