北京家庭作业新规开始实施

Eight new measures introduced to ease the burden on primary and middle school students in Beijing have been rolled out as the spring semester began. According to the policy, students in Beijing's primary and middle schools will have much less homework to do, and first and second grade pupils are exempted from homework altogether.

Schools are already a month into the spring semester, but has the new policy been put in place? Parents picking up their children at primary schools say that the policy is being effectively carried out.

"Homework's gone. It's gone for real."

"It's true that there's no more homework on weekends. Really! There's no homework even on a Friday night."

No student would say no to less homework and more play time, so this new policy has definitely made students happy. But with the stereotype of Chinese parents being that of control freaks who hold high hopes for their children's test scores, the real question to ask is whether the parents are glad about these changes?

Anna's daughter is now in her first year in primary school. She said she supports removing homework.

"I agree with the measures to reduce the burden on the students, since I believe children don't have enough time for themselves. Now, with more spare time, my daughter can learn to play the Er' Hu at her school. She picked it up by herself and she loves it. And she can have more time to play with her friends. "

Anna says she only helps her daughter review and preview lessons everyday before bed, and that should be enough for her daughter during her primary school years.

Li Yuyan, mother of an 8 year-old boy, is also happy about the measures. She says her son is more proactive towards doing the homework that he does receive and seems less stressed as a result.

"He now actively does his homework as soon as he gets home. And now the school will give us some English learning DVDs, my son loves singing English songs and speaking along English. And I obviously feel that he's less stressed than before when doing these things. I'm happy to see that he can play and spend some time chatting with us after his homework, and he's even started to do housework for us. That's amazing. "

However, some other parents think Anna and Li are being too optimistic. One father who asked to remain anonymous says a large amount of homework and extra-curricular training is necessary for when their children face the burden of high school and the college entrance examination.

"It's still the test score that decides one's future in the college entrance exam. If the exam exists, parents will eventually put the load and burden back on their children's shoulders again. It's the same when it comes to high school entrance exams."

Liu Shuyan, a second grade teacher at one key primary school in west Beijing says the school is also trying to remedy the worries that some parents may have.

"We try to do more research into teaching, to make our teaching methods more efficient, to keep things concise and spare more time for in-school practice. Practice allows knowledge to be consolidated. And we carry our more frequent communication with parents through our parent-school text message platform. Everyday we inform parents of their child's learning progress."

Besides banning mid-term examinations for primary school students, the eight measures also dictate that junior high schools keep class time below 34 hours a week and limit homework to a maximum of one and half hours. Paid remedial teaching and preference towards academic certificates during enrollment are also forbidden.

For CRI, I'm Wang Wei.