Ministry: Cram schools that fail inspections to make changes by year-end

China has been inspecting cram schools nationwide to ensure those that do not meet government standards make the necessary changes by year-end, the Ministry of Education said on Thursday.

As of Wednesday, more than 400,000 cram schools had been checked, Lyu Yugang, director of the ministry's Basic Education Department, said at a news conference in Beijing.

Inspectors have found 273,000 crams schools that fail to the make the grade, and 248,000 have had their programs changed to come into line with government standards, Lyu said.

Beijing's education, civil affairs, human resources and social security, and market regulation authorities have inspected more than 12,600 cram schools, and 93 percent of those found with problems have made necessary changes, said Feng Hongrong, deputy inspector of the Beijing Education Commission.

Once all the changes are made, the capital will carry out a second round of inspections in January to ensure schools stick with them, he said.

In February, the Ministry of Education and three other ministries issued guidelines to regulate providers of after-school classes.

"Teachers who lure or coerce students into attending after-school training classes will be dealt with seriously, or even stripped of their teaching credentials," the guidelines said.

They also said that institutions should not teach anything outside the syllabus, and they should submit course plans, enrollment targets and class hours to local authorities for approval.

After-school classes are not allowed to organize graded examinations or conduct competitions for primary and secondary school students. In addition, the training results from these institutions cannot be used as criteria for future enrollment in primary or secondary schools, the guidelines added.

The State Council's General Office issued a guideline to regulate cram schools in August aimed at easing the heavy workload on primary and secondary school students.

It highlighted behavior such as teaching students more advanced materials than appropriate for their grade in core subjects, such as Mandarin and mathematics. Institutions should also not teach ahead of students’ school schedules, or assign homework and give graded tests for work beyond their grade level.

Certificates and licenses for cram schools will be reviewed annually, and local governments will publish online lists of qualified institutions and of those that failed to meet the standards, the State Council’s guideline added.