Society Under the Newly Issued Double-Reduction Policy: a Review of the Short- and Long-Term Social, Economic, Educational, and Livelihood Impacts and the Comparisons with the Similar Educational Policies in South Korea

Abstract

Along with the rapid global development, the course load of primary and secondary school students increases proportionally as well as the time input of students on their studies. The workload from school and the after-school tutoring burden the students at the compulsory education stage just to gain better resources for future education. Thus, they lose a significant amount of their time which is supposed to be an opportunity for them to pursue their interests and discover their potential. More seriously, the overwhelming workload may also significantly affect their physical and mental health. Moreover, this “exploitation” of students can socially stimulate educational involution as well, decreasing fertility desire due to the difficulty of raising children. Under this background, the Chinese government issued the Double Burden Reduction Policy to reduce students' workload from school and outside studying. The policy aims to cool down and avoid overheated social involution through the partial closure of out-school tutoring as a primary means. This paper analyzes these existing short-term effects and gives probable predictions of long-term impacts.