Chinese parents to edutech startups: don’t waste our kids’ time on unproven methods

This past weekend, 9.5 million high school students in China took what will probably be the most important and stressful standardized test of their lives. The gaokao, a nationwide college entrance exam, is the culmination of an entire young life spent in school, and it decides in one fell swoop who gets in and who gets left behind.

Test preparation takes place over several months – even years. It’s a captive market that tech companies and investors have not ignored. Tencent, New Oriental, Gaokao Bibei, Shuafen Liqi, and Zhao Mingshi all offer their own gaokao test prep solutions. In the run-up to this year’s exams, test prep app Yuan Tiku reportedly raised US$60 million in series D funding and claimed to have 13 million high schoolers on board. Test prep and college application site Gaokaopai was acquired by TAL Education Group.

But are students really using online solutions to help them study for the gaokao? Chinese tech blog Techweb visited six gaokao test sites in Beijing and surveyed 145 parents to find out. Only eight of them – 5.5 percent – said their kids used online learning to prepare for the test. 27.6 percent sent their kids to extra remedial classes, while 72.4 percent did not participate in either remedial or online coursework.

Heavy workload

Those 72.4 percent of parents said their kids didn’t have enough time to put in extra work. They already attend class six days per week in the run-up to the exams, often from the time they wake up until late in the evening.

Parents told Techweb that while online education is cheaper than remedial classes, they aren’t confident in its effectiveness. Online courses don’t have the legacy and data to prove that their systems work. They don’t want to risk their children’s precious free time on experimental methods.

The survey also asked parents if they really understood online education. Almost 74 percent said, "no." 16.6 percent said they had heard of it but not tried it. A mere 10 percent claimed to understand it. And keep in mind, these are parents of students who attend school in Beijing – one of the most well-off and well-educated places in the country.

The survey shows that while online education companies are booming in China, they still face a lack of public awareness and distrust when it comes to quality. Chinese grade school students are notoriously busy, as well, leaving little time for extra work.

Schools have also been slow to adapt to new technologies. While a handful of wealthy experimental schools sometimes try out new teaching methods, the large majority of them have little funds or incentive to do so. Edutech startups have a steep uphill battle to climb before they are accepted into mainstream schools and households.

(Source: Techweb)