CHINA'S PRIVATE TUITION BAN BACKFIRES; FUELS UNDERGROUND MARKET, RISING COSTS

China's decision to impose a ban on private tuition to reduce the cost of raising children, has backfired, as it not only forayed the activity into black market, but has also left kids, parents, and teachers related to the industry vulnerable to punishment as the demand for private tutors never declined.

- 

This ban had declared private tuition outlawed on school subjects. However, parents point out that instead of achieving its goal, higher.

costs due to a shortage of private teachers have raised concerns over the quality of education given to the students in the underground market, which has left fear of being discovered by the authorities, the Straits Times reported.

The report cited an example of Finance Executive Zoe Pan, who used to spend 300 yuan (around USD 43) for each hour of her only son's tuition classes earlier but now has to spend 150 yuan (around USD 22) extra post-ban.

Pan, aged 43 and currently living in Beijing, said, "Before the ban, we could rely on group classes by big tutoring brands or have access to a wider selection of tutors.

But we can now rely only on word-of-mouth communication--mainly from other parents--to find out about tutors or sign up for tuition classes that have been repackaged to avoid the authorities' detection." Chinese parents are also demanding one-on-one tuition, which has been deemed unlawful, resulting in a further shortage of teachers.