Page 71 - EW August 2021

ready privileged, campaigners say. “Career planning in this
system is a matter of luck and especially disfavours groups
which need a higher degree of stability, e.g, researchers with
children, women, people with disabilities and internation-
als,” says a statement from N2, a network of doctoral re-
searchers.
The video appears to have aroused such anger because
instead of suggesting that this churn was problematic and
a sign that the law had backfired, it made it clear that the
ministry was perfectly happy to “use people to get the best
impact” and then spit them out “to the market”, says Dr.
Eichhorn.
Since then, the ministry has been forced to remove the
video, saying it no longer reflects working conditions in
German academia. But it has continued to argue that it is
normal for fixed-term contracts to be offered to workers in
their “qualification phase”, and that not all junior research- Chinese coaching school: heavy financial burden
ers could or should stay in academia in the long term.
more than ten hours a week, according to Deloitte, an ac-
CHINA countancy firm. There is widespread speculation, including
Sword over coaching institutions in state media, that the new rules will impose limits on tu-
ition timings. They may, for example, prohibit classes after
UNTIL CHILDREN REACH THE AGE OF ABOUT a certain time in the evening, during the summer holidays
15 in China, education is free. So why is it that more and on weekends.
than half of a typical family’s spending goes on it? Some analysts think the government may have another
The answer is coaching/ cramming classes: a financial bur- motive. Many cram/coaching companies are offshoots of
den so great that it is often said to discourage couples from China’s tech giants, including Alibaba and Tencent, which
having children at all. Now officials are trying to rein in have come under regulatory scrutiny this year for dominat-
the coaching industry, in part, to relieve the pressure on ing markets and expanding into finance and other areas.
people’s wallets. Parents are not sure it will work. Targeting the cramming business could be another way of
As many of them see it, cramming is not optional. Ex- clipping their wings.
ams for entry to senior high schools are fiercely competitive. Parents wonder whether they will benefit. Some fret the
Then comes the dreaded gaokao: the university entrance new rules will leave them with no choice but to use private
exam on which a child’s future hinges. But as the People’s tutors, which could prove even more costly. A resentful par-
Daily, an official newspaper, reported in June, the mar- ent of a secondary school pupil in Beijing blames the Com-
ket for coaching services is plagued by “endless chaos”. It munist Party: “It’s very simple. They just have to control
listed problems ranging from misleading advertising to high everything, always.”
prices and use of unqualified teachers.
Officials began warning months ago that they were pre- INDIA
paring to issue regulations to impose order. This sent shiv- Headless varsities speculation
ers through the industry. According to Bloomberg, several
education firms suspended plans to list their shares. New MORE THAN ONE IN THREE OF INDIA’S
Oriental, one of China’s biggest cramming companies, saw Central universities is without a permanent vice
its share price on the New York Stock Exchange drop below chancellor, raising concerns about growing po-
$8, from a high of more than $19 in February. On June 9, litical interference in appointments and flagging questions
the education ministry said a new government department about the planned transformation of the country’s higher
would be set up to oversee such businesses, encompassing education system. At least 21 of the 54 Central institutions
both online tuition and lessons in the classroom. — which are funded by the national government — do not
The industry’s growth has been rapid. One firm, Zuoye- have a long-term leader, including Banaras Hindu, Delhi
bang (“help with homework”) says it offers live-streaming and Jawaharlal Nehru universities.
classes to more than 170 million active users per month. But According to India’s The Telegraph, which first reported
officials fret about the social impact. They want couples to the shortfall, Union education ministry officials blame the
have more children — the birth rate is the lowest in decades prime minister’s office for not responding swiftly to lists
and China is ageing fast. They also say that schoolchildren of shortlisted candidates, which would then be sent to the
are overstressed. Urban pupils attend cramming classes for president for approval. However, critics point out that

AUGUST 2021 EDUCATIONWORLD 71