In China, education has become both a promise and a pressure cooker. Although schooling is officially free through age fifteen, millions of families have poured money into private “cramming classes” to give their children an edge in brutally competitive exams, culminating in the gaokao. In this episode, we explore why the government has moved to clamp down on the tutoring industry, framing the crackdown as a way to ease family finances, boost falling birth rates, and restore order to a chaotic market riddled with dubious claims and uneven quality. Behind the social rationale lies a deeper story about control as well, as the new rules rein in powerful tech firms tied to education. The result is a sweeping intervention that reveals how anxieties about children, competition, and national priorities now intersect in China’s classrooms.

https://www.economist.com/china/2021/06/24/china-is-clamping-down-on-cram-schools