China’s decision on edtech firms demonstrates a desire to achieve equity even at the expense of profits, and there are lessons for South Africa.
, Francis Fukuyama declared the “unabashed victory of economic and political liberalism” evidenced by the “total exhaustion of viable economic alternatives to Western liberalism”. In addition to the end of the Cold War, Fukuyama pointed to the “omnipresent colour TVs” in China as among the signs of the end of the battle of ideologies.
Until this announcement, Chinese edtech was big business, valued between $100-billion and $120-billion. Some of the biggest edtech companies are listed on the Asian and US stock markets. As expected, investors are now upset at how a whole industry can be erased with a stroke of a pen. For students to progress to the non-compulsory senior middle school, they must take an entrance exam; otherwise, they move to vocational training or leave school. The academic schooling path culminates in the national higher education entrance exam, commonly known as the gaokao, which students take in June. In 2019, 10.8-million Chinese students sat for the gaokao, but fewer than 2% of them could earn a position in a tier one university. The stakes are high.
In March 2021, President Xi Jinping was already publicly expressing concerns about the pressure faced by Chinese families and children because of the surge in after-school tutoring services. Chinese children were spending a significant portion of their leisure time learning: after hours, on weekends and on public holidays.
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