The Ministry of Education (MOE) has issued provisional measures for imposing administrative penalties for illegal off-campus tutoring. The penalty provisions came about two years after China's most stringent measures to relieve students' burden, dubbed the "double reduction."
The aim is to strengthen the regulation of off-campus tutoring and make it a useful supplement to school education. This penalty provision will restrict off-campus tutoring violations, in order to create a good environment for the growth of students, according to the MOE.
The measures set out the general requirements for administrative penalties for illegal off-campus tutoring operated by any person or organization that is offered to preschool children over 3 years of age, and primary and secondary school students, according to the MOE.
It stipulates that administrative penalties shall be imposed by the competent authorities and makes provisions for the jurisdiction of offline and online off-campus tutoring.
The administrative penalties include warnings, fines, confiscation of illegal income, revocation of licenses, and restrictions on practicing. The maximum fine is 100,000 yuan ($13,712).
Some violations will result in heavier penalties, including off-campus tutoring offenses that are repeated within two years after the previous offense was dealt with, as well as off-campus tutoring by teachers at primary or secondary schools.
At the same time, off-campus tutoring institutions organizing unauthorized social competitions for pre-school children, primary and secondary school students will also be subject to administrative penalties.
The measures also require authorities in charge of off-campus tutoring to set up a law enforcement monitoring system to strengthen supervision of abuses and violations during the penalty process.
