In its most recent move to relieve the pressure of schooling, especially on younger kids, the Ministry of Education announced it will no longer permit written exams for 1st and 2nd-grade students, according to China Daily. In a statement on Monday, the ministry explained, “Exams are a necessary part of school education…. [but]excessive exams, that cause an excessive burden on students…must be corrected.”
Previously, all grades were subject to examinations that culminated in university admission or rejection. An immense amount of pressure is put on students to do well in these exams and was partially responsible for the previous tutoring industry boom.
Upper grades will continue with these exams, although the new laws also state that schools should keep tests reasonable and in line with the approved syllabus. There will also be a limit on the frequency of tests administered each year, and test rankings and scores will no longer be made public. This means placing students in so-called “elite” classes will also stop since those placements are primarily based on the rankings.
The latest initiatives come on the heels of other regulations earlier this year which banned written homework for 1st and 2nd graders while capping the amount of time older students can spend on homework at 90 minutes per night. Likewise, it follows a wave of afterschool tutoring reforms that all but shook the country earlier this month.
Because so much weight was given to testing in the past, the new policy has many parents and teachers questioning how students will be evaluated in early elementary school moving forward. As with so many of the other policies instituted this year, only time will tell what the effect will be on the education system, children, and families.
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