's non-disciplinary off-campus training for primary and secondary school students is expected to be further standardized. On December 29, according to the website of the Ministry of Education, 13 departments including the Ministry of Education recently issued the "Opinions on Regulating Non-disciplinary Off-Campus Training for Primary and Secondary School Students" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), making systematic arrangements for the management of non-disciplinary off-campus training. It is mentioned that the daily operations of non-disciplinary training should be standardized. Training institutions are not allowed to collect fees in a one-time manner or in the form of recharge, sub-cards, etc. for a time span of more than 3 months or 60 class hours, and the amount must not exceed 5,000 yuan.
A single charge shall not exceed 5,000 yuan
It is worth noting that this "Opinion" sets out clear standards for non-disciplinary training in terms of training time and training price. The "Opinions" emphasize the need to standardize the daily operations of non-disciplinary training. The training time of non-subject training shall not conflict with the teaching time of local primary and secondary schools. The end time of offline training shall not be later than 20:30 and the online training shall not be later than 21:00. Non-disciplinary training institutions must adhere to the public welfare attribute and implement clear pricing and information disclosure. Training fees are managed by designated banks, special accounts, and special funds. Training fees are not paid using training loans and methods. It is encouraged to operate by providing training services first and then charging. In terms of fees, training institutions are not allowed to collect fees in one time or in disguised forms such as recharges and sub-cards for a time span of more than 3 months or 60 class hours, and the amount must not exceed 5,000 yuan. Yu Miao, the founder of
Sulu Consulting, believes that since the implementation of the double reduction policy, primary and secondary school students have more spare time, and the proportion of sports and art scores in the high school entrance examination has increased, making sports and art training gradually begin to produce some effects similar to subject training. At the same time, because quality training categories such as children's programming, robotics, Go, and chess can easily convince parents of their functions of "inspiring logical thinking" and "inspiring mathematical thinking", they have become a popular quality training track after the double reduction of and . The issuance of the "Opinions" is precisely to prevent the phenomenon of "quality-based disciplines" in the training market and to truly reduce the burden on students and parents. Yu Miao said: "The normative opinions of the 13th department on non-disciplinary training are basically consistent with the previous disciplinary training. The standards are unified, easy to manage, and also conducive to protecting the interests of parents and students to the maximum extent."
On-the-job teachers are not allowed to be hired
The "Opinions" also have clear requirements for training teachers for non-disciplinary training. The "Opinions" emphasize that practitioners in non-disciplinary training must have vocational (professional) competency qualifications in corresponding categories such as sports, culture and art, science and technology, etc. On-the-job teachers in primary and secondary schools are not allowed to be hired, and the employment of foreign personnel must comply with relevant national regulations. Non-disciplinary institutions must obtain administrative licenses from relevant competent authorities in accordance with the law, and then register as legal persons in accordance with the law. It is necessary to conduct a comprehensive investigation, benchmarking and rectification of existing institutions.
How does the Opinion solve the problem of lack of qualifications among non-disciplinary training practitioners? In this regard, the person in charge of the Off-Campus Education and Training Supervision Department of the Ministry of Education said that whether the employees of the training institution have corresponding qualifications is an important criterion for measuring whether an institution is formal. The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security issued the "Measures for the Management of Employees in Off-Campus Training Institutions (Trial)" in September 2021, which stipulates that non-disciplinary training practitioners must have corresponding vocational (professional) ability certificates.
In response to the issue of employee qualifications, the "Opinions", in addition to requiring that personnel employed for training must have corresponding vocational (professional) abilities in sports, culture, art, science and technology, or have corresponding types of teacher qualification certificates, also stipulates that specific vocational (professional) ability qualification standards can be clarified by the competent authorities at or above the provincial level, so that each department and province can implement them in detail.
Yumiao also said that based on the current market situation, small and medium-sized training institutions face greater compliance challenges. Because they need to re-recruit and train some new teachers during the compliance process, they may also face the loss of some students during this period. “Fortunately, there is a transition period between the Opinions and the creation and implementation of specific implementation rules. Institutions can gradually make adjustments through the direction set by the Opinions. This is also the only way for long-term development in the future."
Do a good job in the supporting reform of standardized governance
While clearly stipulating the teachers, fees and training time for non-disciplinary training, the "Opinions" also proposes to do a good job in supporting the reform of standardized governance of non-disciplinary training. Strengthen the role of the main position of school education and promote students to learn better and return to school. Strengthen the teaching of in-demand subjects such as music, sports, and art. Teachers should be supplemented to provide adequate music, sports and beauty courses; social resources such as science, culture, and sports should be coordinated and used, and retired teachers, qualified social professionals or volunteers should be actively hired to support the school’s after-school service work to meet the diverse learning needs of students.
A reporter from Beijing Business Daily noted that the current mainstream non-disciplinary training on the market includes traditional training. Music, sports and beauty-related training, as well as children's programming and robot training, which have become popular in recent years, have all entered the "three-thirty after-school" program in public schools through extracurricular service procurement. This "Opinion" also clearly states that localities can appropriately introduce non-disciplinary training institutions to participate in school after-school services based on needs. The principle of public welfare must be adhered to, and the fee standards for introduced training projects must be significantly lower than the fee standards for training institutions providing similar training services outside schools.
A non-disciplinary training practitioner revealed to a reporter from Beijing Business Daily that in the next step, they will also make corresponding adjustments to the price of on-campus services based on the "Opinions". With the further implementation of the "Opinions" in various places, the standardized operation of off-campus training is also advancing steadily.
Beijing Business Daily reporter Cheng Mingjie
