Disillusioned with standardized, test-based tuition, some parents are setting up their own schools. Zhao Xinying reports.

Having seen the ETU School in Beijing develop from an idea to a facility with 15 full-time teachers and more than 30 students, co-founder Li Yinuo is confident of success and feels ready to take the next step.

"Our goal for 2017 is to expand our school from the current scale of K-Grade 1 (kindergarten to Grade 1) to K-Grade 3, which means a further 80 or 90 students will be recruited in the academic year that will begin in September," said the mother of three, a former partner at McKinsey, a global management consultancy, in Beijing and Palo Alto, California.