China Bans Education Apps for Pre-School Students

Beijing’s education authorities have banned new education applications for preschool students and have also approved removing the existing applications as it continues to crack down the private tutoring in the country.

These applications have been banned specifically by the Chinese authorities to reduce the screen time of children and their addiction to smartphones, becoming a social problem in China. 

According to a regulation co-issued by the municipal education, cyberspace, and communications administration, tutoring apps for all age students should not provide any type of negative or undesirable information and should also not contain any gaming or advertisement links.

The ban on tutoring applications has caused New Oriental Education & Technology Group, a New York-listed Chinese tutoring firm to cut its workforce by 60,000, and the shares also fell by 75% since late July.

The education industry is facing a heavy blow to the private tutoring sector worth $120 billion, due to the ban imposed by the Chinese authorities on private tutoring. Private education firms are now prohibited from launching an IPO and hiring foreign teachers who are based outside of the country.