After recent moves to crack down on private education companies that engage in off-campus training, Beijing further issued regulations on fees to be collected for these services.
The central government recently issued a directive on “reducing the burden of homework and off-campus training” for elementary and junior middle school students, which had a significant impact on out-of-school training courses in China’s compulsory education system. In addition to limiting the amount of time students have to spend after class, the authorities have also regulated the off-campus training fees.
According to the National Development and Reform Commission, a government commission on macroeconomic management, China will implement government-guided price management of the training fees. The government will set the benchmark fees and fluctuation ranges and incorporate them into the price management of local authorities.
The benchmark fees and fluctuation range for off-line out-of-school training will be set by the provincial government. The fees and range for on-line training are set by the local authorities where the training institutions are licensed to operate. Local governments are allowed to set the range of fluctuations to be no more than 10 percent above the benchmark, and without a lower limit.
The regulation emphasizes the need to “implement government-guided price management,” and “adhere to the public welfare attribute of out-of-school training,” with the goal of “reducing the burden of education expenses on students’ families.”
Source: National Development and Reform Commission, September 6, 2021
https://www.ndrc.gov.cn/xwdt/xwfb/202109/t20210906_1296115.html