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More than 160,000 tutoring agencies have closed down due to the “double reduction” policy.

“When I first started the business “ employees. “After finishing all these, I
13 years ago, there were no regulations think I will go to teach in rural villages
or government restrictions,” Zhang It is impossible to for a year or two,” Zhu said in the post.
says. “Parents and schools wanted us New Oriental Education & Tech-
to help their children and students to operate if we follow nology Group Inc (Xindongfang) is
get into prestigious schools,” he adds. the largest player in the private tutor-
“Even big companies like New the official guide on ing market in China. The company
Oriental Education & Technology had 1,600 branches and over two mil-
Group (Xindongfang) cannot escape. tuition fee charges. lion students all over the country, ac-
They stopped offering online classes cording to its third-quarter financial
in August immediately. Many teach- We cannot make report in the 2021 fiscal year. It mainly
ers have lost their jobs, and no help is any profit. offered courses related to the Test of
offered to them,” Zhang says. English as a Foreign Language (TOE-
Zhu Yu, vice-president and chief FL) and for K-12 students.
executive officer of Oriental Youbo Zhang says he will change his busi-
(New Oriental’s online K-12 course ” ness model. “We can run calligraphy
project), posted a message on WeChat classes or Lego playgroups since those
in September saying that the company are not related to the compulsory edu-
was financially healthy. Oriental You- cation,” he explains.
bo promised to fully refund all tuition “As long as the demand exists,
fees to students and compensated its there is always a way out. The require-