Hangzhou education authority says investigation underway after social media influencer claims provider in breach of policy

The Hangzhou education authority said on Thursday that it was verifying the situation involving New Oriental, a well-known after-school tutoring service, after a social media influencer reported the firm was breaking the double reduction policy.

The internet celebrity, who has more than 3.1 million fans on Chinese’s version Tik Tok Douyin, released a video clip on August 4 where he went to a New Oriental centre in Hangzhou to ask about junior and senior high school tutoring programs.

After told by an employee that high school tutoring courses Chinese, math and English are currently available and junior courses can be attended both offline and online, the influencer questioned whether New Oriental was in breach of the nation’s double reduction policy and called the police.

The influencer then uploaded another video where he visited the local education bureau to report New Oriental’s illegal activities.

A New Oriental employee said all Hangzhou campuses have been closed since Monday, and the tutoring fees will be refunded to the students where classes were cancelled.

An official from the double reduction working group under the education bureau told media on Thursday once the tutoring can be confirmed as discipline-based, it will be called off in accordance with law and regulations, the Paper reported.

In July 2021, China introduced a set of guidelines known as the double reduction policy to ease the burden of excessive homework and off-campus tutoring for students undergoing compulsory education.

According to the policy, after-school tutoring institutions are not allowed to operate on national holidays, rest days and winter and summer vacations to deliver discipline-based tutoring programs for students.

The influencer’s report raised widespread discussion on China’s Twitter-like social media platform Weibo. Some netizens said New Oriental is indeed suspected of breaching the policy, while others questioned the influencer’s intention of capturing public attention as the influencer often asked for fan rewards in the comments section of his published videos on Douyin.

(Global Times)