Unhealthy sector required guidance

Having worked for one of China's major tutoring companies for 10 years, I was unhappy about the abrupt and undignified way my job ended.

On Oct 7, my employer, OneSmart International Education Group, notified its employees that it would delay payment of monthly salaries from Oct 8 to Oct 26.

However, five days later, it issued an online letter to all students and parents saying that it would "suspend operations" because it was facing "great operational difficulties".

Along with many of my colleagues, I didn't receive my salary or a severance payment－unlike employees of some other tutoring companies that have also laid off many staff members due to the "double reduction" policy.

As a manager in the company's business operations team, I felt very uncomfortable and puzzled by the sudden announcement. I didn't know what to do or what to say to the team members, parents and students who had all put their trust in me.

I also questioned whether I made the right choice in becoming a math tutor after I graduated from college more than 10 years ago. I wondered if my career was a failure, and, more importantly, I didn't know where my future lay.

After the suspension announcement, the team members stayed at work for several days, trying to get parents and students refunds they were owed for canceled courses, and reimbursement for their own business trips, but neither move was successful.

The company was just in too much debt to repay anyone.

After that, we stopped going to the office as there was no point in continuing to work knowing that there would be no salaries.

I spent more than a month at home wondering what I was going to do next. Then I realized that my passion and love for educating young children had not faded and that I still wanted to be a teacher.

The shake-up of the tutoring industry came because the unhealthy competition among students to engage in intense and stressful academic tutoring was detrimental to their healthy growth.

However, seeing students' grades improve and receiving their many expressions of gratitude was very rewarding and satisfying, so I became a manager at Beijing Future Education.

It's a startup run by one of my friends that offers career planning services to students and also companies.

The company has yet to make a profit, and the costs of hiring people and office rentals are very high in Beijing.

That doesn't worry me, though. I am one of life's optimists and not easily defeated by hardships.

Hu Xuemei spoke with Zou Shuo.