Students read textbooks at a primary school in Luoyang, Central China's Henan province, Sept 1, 2015. [Photo/IC]

THE EXTRACURRICULAR training agencies for primary and middle school students have entered their busiest season, as parents worry that school education alone will not ensure that their children are winners in the competitive entrance exams and interviews for the key primary and middle schools, most of which are held in June and July. China Youth Daily comments:

The popularity of the after-school training, most of which focuses on rote learning and intensively preparing the trainees for specific exams, has become pervasive to such an extent that the students not receiving such training are regarded as abnormal.

Although China implements nine-year compulsory education and all students can secure a seat in primary and middle schools, the competition to get into some key schools is now cutthroat.

The students are required to not only show their talents in certain arts and boast remarkable experience in attending social activities, but also show knowledge far beyond their grades, as the middle-school entrance exams may involve knowledge that is expected to be taught only in high schools, or even college.

It means students spend the time that should be spent on sports and developing hobbies on learning things they will learn again in the future.

Worse, the irrational style of extracurricular training, which focuses on learning by rote and cramming for exams, extinguishes many children's enthusiasm for learning and their inherent curiosity and creativity. The education authorities must be cautious of the negative influences of such training, which is actually against the essence of education. They should strengthen regulation of the training business, which currently lack much supervision.

According to The Chinese Society of Education, the after-school training market's scale hit more than 800 billion yuan ($118 billion) last year, involving about 8 million trainers and 137 million trainees.

Schools should provide basic education without adopting an unrealistic admittance mechanism, and public education resources should be distributed more fairly among different communities to ensure every child, irrespective of his or her family background, has an equal chance to pursue a better life through education.