Survey finds students, parents, teachers back policy

More than 90 percent of students, parents and teachers are in favor of the "double reduction" policy, which reduces students' extracurricular tutoring and homework burdens, a report said on Wednesday.

The report, by the China Institute of Education and Social Development at Beijing Normal University, was based on a survey of 1.69 million parents and students, teachers and principals at 3,564 primary and middle schools across the country in December and January.

It found that 96 percent of students agree with the new policy, with parents at 92.8 percent, teachers at 90.5 percent and principals 96.8 percent. It also found the policy has achieved its intended results, with fewer students attending tutoring courses and schools assigning less homework.

More than 88 percent of teachers said they have strictly limited the amount of homework given, 75 percent of students felt their homework has been reduced, and 83 percent of students said they can basically finish all written homework at school.

Moreover, 83.5 percent of students said they no longer attended academic tutoring courses, and 63.3 percent said they do not take part in nonacademic tutoring courses.

As a result, primary school students are now getting an average of about 9.3 hours' sleep, with 8.5 hours for middle school students, the report said.

However, it also found that parents still have very high expectations for their children, which constitutes the major reason for the pressure that students feel. More than 90 percent of parents said they want their children to obtain a bachelor's degree or even higher.

More than 30 percent of parents said they felt anxious about their chances of enrolling their children in good schools, and nearly 30 percent said they were not willing to send their children to secondary vocational schools.

As schools are required to offer two hours of after-school services on weekdays, the report found that teachers have a greater workload and are under more pressure.

Around 60 percent of teachers said their workload had increased due to the after-school services and 70 percent said they wanted their burden to be reduced.

Meanwhile, the average payment for after-school service is 57 yuan ($9) an hour, with 20 percent of teachers saying they were not being paid for working overtime, the report said.

Sun Yuquan, father of a sixth grader in Beijing's Fengtai district, said the new policy has brought "more laughter and less conflict" to his family, as his son could spend more time developing his hobbies.

He can finish almost all his homework at school, and in his spare time he can rest, do physical exercise and read, Sun said.

His son also became more interested in photography and Sun said he often takes him to parks and museums on weekends to record beautiful things in life.

However, in the comment section of a Sina Weibo post on Monday by the Beijing Municipal Education Commission about the results of the double reduction policy, some netizens expressed dissatisfaction.

Some said the tutoring courses offered by companies had been replaced by more expensive and covert one-on-one tuition, while others complained about the long school hours due to the after-school services and changed schedules that brought inconvenience to their families.