More efficient

Zhou Huiling, the mother of a first-grader at a public primary school in Shanghai, said she believes every student in the class receives after-school education, as does the class teacher's child.

She said the education provided at such institutions is helpful, as it is more efficient than home schooling, with children adopting a more serious attitude. The language used by the teachers also suits the children better, she said.

Like many other parents, Zhou Huiling mentioned Xue Er Si (learn and think), a popular after-school tutoring chain. She said the content taught is ahead of the normal school curriculum. For example, compulsory education requires pupils to add and subtract up to the number 50 for first-graders, but at Xue Er Si children are learning to add and subtract up to 100.

"The practice of learning early and making their child master something that others cannot is attractive to parents. Others may fear that their children will lag behind and may sign them up for such classes," she said.

Tomorrow Advancing Life, an education company in Beijing operating Xue Er Si's classes, declined to comment.

At a news conference in December, the Ministry of Education said it had ordered cities to set up teams of experts to review teaching content at out-of-school classes, which must be consistent with the curriculum standards.

Such institutions are trading on parental anxiety in a number of ways, including through articles interpreting new education policies that lead to the immediate introduction of fresh courses.

Zhou said a new national policy introduced last semester encouraged students to read more extracurricular books, and some institutions had quickly introduced reading classes.

"They (the institutions) say 'just send your kids to us and don't waste time choosing books yourself, which may not be appropriate'. But this can be effective as parents nowadays lack time but not money," the mother said.

However, Wu said taking extra classes sometimes poses hidden risks to children's studies, as they believe they have mastered the knowledge and don't listen to the teacher in class. "Learning in advance does not always equate to better scores," she said.

Lyu Yugang, director of the Department of Basic Education at the Ministry of Education, said in December that parents should choose their children's development targets and learning paths rationally, and avoid blindly following some social trends.

Primary school teachers said they hoped parents showed more trust in schools and teachers.

Qu said: "We encourage parents to help kids cultivate an interest in learning and establish good study habits through doing school assignments, rather than rushing to out-of-school classes. Interest is the best teacher, and good habits are a guarantee of long-term development."