Notice! Fees are strictly prohibited!

In order to conscientiously implement the "Opinions on Further Reducing the Burden of Homework and Extracurricular Training for Students in the Compulsory Education Stage" issued by the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council, further standardize the work of compulsory education after-school services, and improve the level and quality of after-school services, the General Office of the Ministry of Education and other four departments recently jointly issued the "Notice on Further Standardizing the Work Related to Compulsory Education After-school Services".

The "Circular" pointed out that it is strictly forbidden to arbitrarily expand the scope. School after-school services should be arranged during the school day and after the completion of the national curriculum and school teaching plan, and the end time should be in line with the normal local closing time. Services provided by schools for students such as early arrival and self-Xi, lunch break care, and evening self-Xi must not be included in the scope of after-school services.

According to the Notice, it is strictly forbidden to force students to participate. After-school services must strictly follow the principle of voluntary participation of students, and schools and teachers must not make participation mandatory for students. Schools carrying out after-school services should fully solicit parents' opinions, solicit students' needs, and actively inform parents of service methods, service content, safety and security measures, and so forth, and students and parents should voluntarily sign up and choose courses independently.

The "Circular" proposes that it is strictly forbidden to increase students' homework burden. It is necessary to set up a variety of moral education, physical education, aesthetic education, labor, reading, science, interest groups and club activities according to local and school conditions, appropriately increase the time for students to participate in physical exercise, provide guidance and Xi development guidance for students in need, and promote students' all-round development. After-school service time must not be used to organize students to brush up questions to prepare for exams, teach new classes, or make up classes collectively.

The "Circular" emphasizes that it is strictly forbidden to charge fees arbitrarily in the name of after-school services. Fees must not be increased or expanded in the name of after-school services, fees must not be compulsorily charged or bundled against the wishes of students' parents, and after-school service fees must not be collected through parent committees, third-party institutions, etc. Early arrival at school and self-Xi, lunch and lunch breaks, and evening self-Xi must not be included in after-school service fees. Localities and schools should follow local regulations to reduce or exempt fees related to after-school services for students from economically disadvantaged families. Schools should strictly implement the fee publicity system, disclose relevant information such as after-school service fee standards, service hours, and course content, and actively accept supervision from students, parents, and society.

The "Notice" proposes that it is strictly forbidden for unqualified institutions and personnel to enter the school to provide after-school services. It is necessary to establish a review mechanism for the selection and review of third-party institutions entering the campus, form a list of institutions, service items and introduction fee standards, strengthen daily supervision and establish a dynamic adjustment mechanism. It is necessary to establish a mechanism for examining the qualifications of personnel brought in from outside the school, and strictly prohibit personnel who do not meet the prescribed conditions from entering schools to provide after-school services.

The "Notice" makes it clear that all localities should conduct a comprehensive investigation of the implementation of after-school services in the region, adjust and improve relevant policies and measures, and officially implement them from the spring semester of 2024. It is necessary to comprehensively standardize the items of service fees and collection of fees during the compulsory education stage, and the list of service fees and collection items, including after-school service fees, should be re-submitted to the provincial-level people's government for examination and approval before implementation. It is necessary to strengthen the guarantee of after-school service funds, and adopt methods such as financial subsidies, service fees, or agency fees to ensure that funds are in place.

Questions related to the Notice

Answering questions from reporters——

1. What is the effectiveness of the progress of after-school services since the "double reduction"? Why did the General Office of the Ministry of Education and other four departments issue the "Circular"? Answer: Since the implementation of the "double reduction" for more than two years, the after-school service work has made positive progress and has been widely welcomed by the masses.

The first is to enrich the content of after-school services, guide the "one school, one case" to formulate the implementation plan of after-school services, fully tap the potential of the school, and at the same time adopt the methods of "please come in and go out", and use extracurricular resources such as popular science, cultural tourism, and sports to support the development of after-school services, so as to enhance the effectiveness and attractiveness of after-school services.

At the same time, more than 280,000 scientific and technological talents, literary and art workers, sports coaches, retired teachers and other professionals have been introduced to participate in after-school services.

The third is to strengthen the guarantee of after-school services, the state has raised the benchmark quota of public funds per student in schools, and raised the primary and junior high schools by 70 and 90 yuan respectively, which is clearly mainly used to support schools to implement the "double reduction" policy and improve the level of after-school services;

The first batch of 23,206 schools in 31 provinces and 594 counties (districts) have participated in the pilot project, optimizing the school management process and smoothing the communication channels between home and school.

At present, while doing a good job in homework Q&A and tutoring, the school has generally carried out a variety of activities, and the attractiveness and effectiveness of after-school services have been significantly improved. However, in the course of implementation, some localities and schools have also seen some irregularities, with some localities and schools arbitrarily expanding the scope of after-school services and indiscriminately charging fees in the name of after-school services, thus increasing the burden on family education; some schools have made it compulsory for students to participate in after-school services, and have organized the preparation of questions for examinations, the teaching of new courses, and the collective make-up of classes in after-school service activities, thus increasing the students' homework burden. The purpose of the implementation of the "double reduction" policy is to effectively reduce the excessive homework burden of students in the compulsory education stage, promote the all-round development and healthy growth of students, and carry out after-school services to provide students with more optional moral education, physical education, aesthetic education, labor and other activities, and is also an important way to highlight the characteristics of school running and strengthen the role of the main position of school education, and is an important livelihood project to solve the problem of parents' urgency. The above-mentioned non-standard behaviors violate the "double reduction" policy and the original intention of carrying out after-school services, and need to be further standardized and improved.

2. What time belongs to the scope of after-school services? Answer: According to the spirit of the central government's "double reduction" opinion and the relevant notice requirements of the General Office of the Ministry of Education on the after-school service work of compulsory education, the after-school service of the school should be arranged on the school day and after the completion of the national curriculum and school teaching plan, and the end time should be connected with the local normal after-work time. In terms of time scope, services such as early arrival and self-Xi, lunch and lunch break care, and evening self-Xi are convenient services provided by schools for students to Xi and life, and should not be included in the scope of after-school services.

3. What activities should be carried out in after-school services? Answer: The "Notice" implements the party's education policy, implements the fundamental task of cultivating morality and cultivating people, and further clarifies that after-school services should provide a variety of moral education, physical education, aesthetic education, labor, reading, science, interest groups and club activities, etc., as a useful supplement to curriculum teaching, so as to promote the all-round development and healthy growth of students. At the same time, schools may guide students to use their school time to conscientiously complete their homework based on students' actual conditions, and provide guidance for students in need of Xi learning, but they must not use after-school service time to organize students to prepare for exams, teach new courses, or make up classes collectively.

4. What is the requirements and basis for the "Circular" to regulate after-school service charges? Answer: According to the spirit of the "double reduction" opinion of the central government and the relevant provisions of the "Opinions on Further Strengthening and Standardizing the Management of Educational Fees" issued by the Ministry of Education and other five departments, the "Circular" clearly requires that no after-school service items shall be increased or the scope of fees shall be expanded without authorization, and fees shall not be imposed or bundled against the wishes of students' parents, and after-school service fees shall not be collected through parent committees and third-party institutions. Early arrival at school and self-Xi, lunch and lunch breaks, and evening self-Xi must not be included in after-school service fees. Schools should strictly implement the fee publicity system, disclose relevant information such as after-school service fee standards, service hours, and course content, and actively accept supervision from students, parents, and society.

5. Can third-party institutions enter the campus to participate in after-school service work?Answer: According to the spirit of the central government's "double reduction" opinion and relevant regulations, if the school's after-school services cannot meet the needs of some students' development interests and specialties, and it is necessary to introduce third-party institutions with corresponding qualifications and qualifications to participate in non-academic after-school services, it should be strictly regulated. All localities should establish mechanisms for the selection and review of third-party institutions entering campuses, form a list of institutions and service items, and standards for introducing fees, strengthen routine supervision, and establish mechanisms for dynamic adjustments. The introduction fee standard should be determined through competitive methods such as bidding, and should be significantly lower than the fee standard for training institutions to provide homogeneous training services outside the school. It is necessary to establish a mechanism for examining the qualifications of personnel brought in from outside the school, and strictly prohibit personnel who do not meet the prescribed conditions from entering schools to provide after-school services.

6. How to ensure that the requirements of the "Notice" are implemented?

The first is to adjust and improve policies in a timely manner. In accordance with the requirements of this notice, all localities should conduct a comprehensive investigation of the implementation of after-school services in the region, adjust and improve relevant policies and measures, and officially implement them from the spring semester of 2024. In particular, it is necessary to comprehensively standardize the service fees and collection items in the compulsory education stage, and the list of service fees and collection items, including after-school service fees, should be re-submitted to the provincial-level people's government for examination and approval before implementation.

The second is to improve the supervision and reporting platform. All localities should actively set up after-school service supervision and reporting telephones or mailboxes, promptly verify and handle after-school service problems reported by the masses, and resolutely correct violations. The Ministry of Education and other departments will also promptly verify and deal with the relevant problems reported by the masses.

The third is to do a good job of explaining to the society and parents. All localities should promptly adjust and improve policies and measures related to after-school services, and widely publicize the relevant requirements for after-school services in the new semester through means such as a letter to parents and parents' meetings before the start of the spring semester of 2024, do a good job of explaining to parents, and smoothly transition from previous work practices.

7. In the next step, how to further improve the quality of after-school services? Answer: While standardizing the after-school service work, anchor the goal of "double reduction", constantly improve the after-school service system, strengthen the after-school service education function, improve the quality of after-school service, and meet the diverse needs of students' Xi.

The first is to enrich the content of after-school services, guide schools in various localities to strengthen the development of curriculum resources for after-school service activities, and carry out a variety of popular science, culture, sports, art, labor, reading, interest groups and club activities.

The second is to make full use of extracurricular resources, in accordance with relevant provisions to orderly introduce qualified and qualified social organizations and professionals to participate in after-school services, and give full play to the role of children's palaces, youth activity centers and other extracurricular activity venues in after-school services.

The third is to accelerate digital empowerment, comprehensively promote the co-construction and sharing of high-quality after-school service education resources, orderly expand the pilot application of digital management, and improve the efficiency of after-school service management.

Fourth, strengthen the guarantee of conditions, promote the improvement of the after-school service funding guarantee mechanism in all localities, standardize the charging behavior, and ensure the healthy development of after-school services.