In the wake of the novel Coronavirus epidemic, governments across the world have been fast to act to protect their citizens. Regional and provincial governments in China have been rapidly rolling out directives for travel, work, and education, in order to curtail the spread of the virus. Among the directives were explicit instructions released to schools, both international and local, to suspend any physical classes until further notice or as directed by the health branch of the municipal council. In a notice dated Jan 26, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Education laid out restrictions for the resumption of students at school and the start of the new Spring semester. That, along with the suspension of all non-essential workers from reporting to work until Feb 10, has seen the spread controlled significantly in Beijing.

But it would appear that this directive did not quite sit right with one school, which has seen its license revoked for ignoring the instructions. TianCheng International Education Consulting Ltd (Beijing) had its business license revoked on Feb 6 amid allegations that it contravened the directive of suspending all offline classes until further notice. The saga also implicates Beijing News reporter Chen Lin, who carried out the investigation, and discovered that the school was facilitating per-examination fine arts counseling and training amid the spread of the virus.

The claim further alleges that the school admitted 72 high school students from all across Beijing, and along with ten teachers, they took part in a painting workshop which lasted for four days, from Jan 29 to Feb 1, before it was stopped by the authorities. Given that just days before this incident, the municipal government had issued a directive to suspend all offline classes, the school was found guilty of breaking the law under article 42 which safeguards the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases and had warranted the suspension of offline classes.

It is still unclear as to when schools might reopen their doors, but many campuses across the city, both local and international, have begun offering their students E-learning services, with those yet to start set to do so in the coming days.

Photos: SCHOOLinSITES, asktruth24.com, Justia, bjnews.com

Beijing authorities are conducting a review of the city’s private kindergartens, with many being forced to reduce their fees and bring their curricula and practices into line with publicly-run facilities, or be taken over by local government. However beijingkids has seen no evidence to support speculation that this is the first stage of a clampdown on all privately-owned schools.

The clampdown appears to be a long-term result of the city’s building boom of the mid-2000s. Developers were required to include space for kindergartens in all new developments, to meet the city’s daycare needs of having favcilities like child care Werrington. However most developers sold or leased the space to other suppliers. Many of these companies took advantage of the shortage of kindergarten places, and the high value placed on education in Chinese culture, to charge extravagant, if not extortionate, fees. The new rules require them to be run as public facilities, and not for profit.

Currently over 60 percent of Beijing kindergartens are privately owned, and accommodate just over half of preschoolers. (Class sizes are usually smaller in private facilties.) The government’s target is that by 2020 80 percent of kindergartens will be run publicly or as non-profits. However, according to Zhangxing, a researcher from Zero Power Intelligence Group, this is not the end for the private preschool sector. Once the 80 percent goal has been reached, there will still be a substantial number of private kindergartens. The option will still be open to parents to pay more for “elite” facilities (which may include foreign teachers); the purpose of the clampdown seems to be to make sure low-cost local options are also available.

As foreign teachers are usually paid more, the reduced fees may result in some kindergartens no longer being able to employ them. However the government is only currently taking action against kindergartens which are part of residential compounds. Recent tightening of regulations on the qualifications of foreign teachers, and the curriculum taught at Chinese-owned private schools, have led to some speculation on social media that this is the beginning of a more general restriction on private education. However beijingkids has at this point seen no evidence to support this, or to suggest there is any cause for alarm for teachers and parents in the international community.

(Featured image is a stock photograph. No criticism is intended of the practices of the kindergarten depicted.)

Photo: Ariel Ophelia via Creative Commons

For 6 years, beijingkids has helped parents by putting together the largest school expo – in conjunction with the printed School Choice Guide to comprehensively address educational concerns for prospective and resident families. Next year is no different, on February 18-19, 2017 from 10am-4pm at the Crowne Plaza Beijing Chaoyang U-Town, beijingkids and JingKids will be hosting the 7th Beijing International School Expo (BISE).

The 2017 BISE will feature first-rate international and bilingual schools, including: Beijing-based schools, overseas K-12 institutions, and high-quality extracurricular programs. Furthermore, three separate children’s activity areas, for different age groups, will be included on the expo’s grounds that will attract over 5,000 visitors (2,500 families).

The 2017 BISE is the largest, one-of-its-kind, catered to helping parents, both expat and Chinese families, in understanding the ever evolving education scene through a series of talks and having in depth Q & A sessions with school representatives.

As the editorial teams work on the guides, the rest of the teams are carefully evaluating the credentials of all potential vendors to ensure the quality for our attendees.

The BISE is suited for the following types of families residing in Beijing:
* Chinese families seeking an international education for their children
* Foreign nationals
* Multi-cultural households
* Chinese foreign passport holders
* Families from Hong Kong, Macau, or Taiwan

Check out this video of our event last year! 

The first, English-only BISE in 2011, formerly known as the School Choice Fair, was joined by the Chinese brand JingKids following their publication of the School Choice Guide in 2013. Since then the BISE has been tailored to accommodate the growing numbers of affluent Chinese families looking for available educational options from local to international school and after school programs.

In 2015, we brought families this.

Children’s Activity Area
The children’s activity area includes enough entertainment to keep the little ones occupied, so that parents can focus on talking with school representatives. The sections will be run by educational institutions but geared towards younger children under the age of 10.

FREE
One of the best parts of the expo is that it’s free to come. Avoid the queues and get express check in when you register through this portal.

We’ll see you there!

Alibaba founder Jack Ma is a tech genius, one of China’s richest people, and once long ago, a victim of school bullying. Ma says China would have many more success stories like his if its schools focused less on test scores and more on good times.

At a conference in Shanghai in December, Ma spoke bluntly about the shortcomings of China’s education system. Techinasia.com quoted him as saying:

“I got my cultural education … by having fun. Kids who know how to have fun, are able to have fun, and want to have fun generally have bright futures."

He went on to add that such fun and games are by no means a waste of time: "Many painters learn by having fun, many athletes learn by having fun, many works [of art and literature]are the products of having fun. So, our entrepreneurs need to learn how to have fun, too.”

Ma ought to know a thing or two Chinese education, after all, he worked as a school teacher in the 90s before founding e-commerce behemoth Alibaba and going on to become one of China’s richest people.

And while these may be the gripes of a former education insider, Ma’s beef with China’s schools may be more deeply seeded than that. According to the Financial Post, Ma was bullied by his classmates as a boy because of his size, and his poor grades lead to his enrollment at Hangzhou Normal, a school that has not considered top-tier.

The piece went on to quote Ma’s extracurricular recollections, mainly the time he spent brushing up his English on the street instead of in the classroom, as an amateur guide for laowai tourists. As Ma put it: “I started to become more globalized than most Chinese…. What I learned from my teachers and books was different from what the foreign visitors told us.”

Fine advice for those of you fretting too much about exams at this time of year.

Image: The Real Singapore

Avid football fan, Chinese president Xi Jinping has asked that the national football team sucks less, of course not in those words but he asked to see an improvement. The only time, which happened to be also the last time that China qualified for the World Cup was back in 2002.

Soccer is a popular sport in China but national team’s disappointing performances have harden the most optimistic of fans. Two weeks ago, the education minister, Yuan Guiren, in a national conference on the promotion of soccer in schools stated that in assessing the overall achievements of students, soccer skills will be graded  as per a report by the China Daily.

Yuan also said that schools would have their facilities inspected to check on their efforts made to make the sport more inclusive for the kids. In the physical education class, soccer skills would be compulsory to provide more opportunities for students to play soccer professionally.  

Additionally, the government will set up more soccer academies by 2017 to about 20,000 primary and middle schools. China Daily wrote: In July, the education ministry laid out plans to establish soccer tournaments in primary, junior and high schools as well as colleges. Enrollment policies will be relaxed so it will be easier for schools and colleges to recruit talented footballers. Also, plans to train as many as 6,000 soccer teachers in 2015.

Are you considering a local Chinese school for your child? Come hear what its like directly from foreign parents that have placed their child into the locally-run, Mandarin-language education system.

Four expat parents whose children are currently enrolled in local Beijing schools will share their experiences in this Q&A style panel discussion on Sunday at 1:30 pm as part of the beijingkids School Choice Fair at the Kempinski Hotel (for more details on the fair, please see here).

You’ll hear what it’s really like, why parents made this choice and if this choice is for you. We’ll address the merits and drawbacks of the Chinese system. Are the stereotypes true? Is the Chinese immersion, academic discipline and exceptional math your child will receive worth dealing with the bureaucracy, lack of an advanced English curriculum and the creativity-supressing rote learning methods? Or all of these misconceptions?

Parents on the panel have children in Chinese schools on the primary, secondary and kindergarten levels as well as both public and private schools. Some of the local schools you’ll hear about are Fangcaodi, Jingcheng Experimental School, No. 80 Middle School and Qinghua Fuxiao (CBD Branch).

Come join us this Sunday!