Following the crackdown, Chinese private tutoring companies are emerging from the shadows

SHANGHAI/BEIJING – China is quietly easing regulatory pressure on private tutoring operators as it looks to revive its flagging economy, sparking a nascent recovery in a sector hit hard by a government crackdown three years ago, according to industry data, analysts and data reviewed by Reuters.

There was no formal confirmation of the policy change.

But policymakers have now given tacit approval to expand the tutoring industry as part of Beijing’s initiative to support job creation, eight industry figures and two analysts familiar with the development told Reuters.

The shift is visible in the rise of tutoring companies, as well as in Beijing’s moves to clarify its approach, as well as in Reuters interviews with five Chinese parents who described gradual liberalization in recent months.

The details of this story about the relaxation of policy enforcement and the increasing openness of tutoring organizations’ activities have not been previously reported.

Starting in 2021, a government crackdown known as the “double cut” policy. paid tutoring in basic subjects prohibitedto alleviate educational and financial pressures on parents and students.

The move wiped billions of dollars from the market value of providers such as New Oriental Education & Technology Group and TAL Education Group and led to tens of thousands of job losses.

Before the crackdown, China’s for-profit tutoring industry was valued at around $100 billion (S$132.43 billion), and its three largest players employed more than 170,000 people.

Still, the industry proved resilient, as parents like 36-year-old Michelle Lee continued to seek out tutoring services to give their children an edge in China’s fiercely competitive education system.

Ms Lee, who lives in southern China, spends 3,000 yuan (S$557) a month on extracurricular activities for her son and daughter, including one-on-one math tutoring and online English lessons.

She told Reuters that tutoring schools had been operating more openly in recent months than they had since 2021.

“I think when these policies were first published, the tutoring organizations were a little scared, so they kind of hid, kind of put curtains on the classes,” she said. “But it looks like they don’t do that anymore.”

In China’s high-pressure education environment, parents have no choice but to rely on outside tutoring to keep their children on track, Lee said, adding that she “felt a huge sense of failure” when trying to support her children’s education.

China’s education ministry did not respond to questions about its changing approach to the tutoring industry.

At a ministry press conference in March, Liu Xiya, a delegate from China’s legislature and chairwoman of a Chongqing-based education group, told local media that “pain points” in education policy were gradually being addressed.

Lynn Song, ING’s chief economist for Greater China, said China was unlikely to admit the crackdown “was a little too violent.” He added that there would be a rather “tacit return to a looser regulatory stance.”

“The overall policy environment has changed from restrictive to supportive as the main goal now is stabilization,” Song said, adding that the tutoring industry should benefit from the broader shift.