China’s State Council has announced tough new laws halting the teaching of foreign curriculum in schools from kindergarten to grade nine and prohibiting the ownership or control of any private K-9 schools by foreign entities.
The new laws, which come into effect on Sept. 1, are the latest in a series of measures intended to tighten control of the country’s fast-growing education sector. China currently has private K-9 schools that teach local and foreign curricula.
As reported, members of the board of directors or any other decision-making body at a private K-9 school must be Chinese nationals and must include representatives from the regulators, according to the Private Education Promotion Law published on Friday on a government website.
The K-9 schools will no longer be able to organize entrance tests or recruit in advance. Also, public K-9 schools will be barred from establishing private schools or converting themselves into private schools.
China is framing tough new rules for its booming private tutoring industry, aiming both to ease pressure on schoolchildren and to boost the country’s birth rate by lowering family living costs.
