China on Monday (Aug. 30) banned written exams for six and seven-year-olds in primary school, as the country seeks to ease the pressure on students seen as a birth brake.
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Beijing embarked on a comprehensive education reform last month, where the excessive workload of schoolchildren and the prohibitive costs of tutoring classes are increasingly criticized.
Education in China is particularly competitive and elitist, in order to pass the exam of a lifetime, the "
gaokao
", which determines at the end of high school whether or not to enter higher education.
Willingness to stimulate the birth rate
According to new guidelines published Monday by the Ministry of Education, it will no longer be possible to organize written exams in the first and second year of primary school.
"
Too frequent examinations overload the students and subject them to enormous pressure
," said the ministry.
This "
harms their mental and physical health
," he said.
The authorities had already set the tone last month, by banning private tutoring classes on weekends and during school holidays.
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The measure caused an earthquake in the lucrative commercial education sector and made employment for millions of teachers uncertain.
Obsessed by the success of their offspring, Chinese parents usually enroll their children in a multitude of extra-curricular courses, often very expensive.
Those who can afford it also buy accommodation near the best schools so that they can send their children there.
A phenomenon that makes real estate prices jump.
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"Old before being rich": why China is worried about the decline in births
But the financial burden of a quality education is often what deters Chinese couples from having a child, as authorities seek to boost the birth rate amid an economic slowdown.