New Oriental laid off 60,000 workers after China’s education crackdown, the founder says.

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s new Middle East has laid off 60,000 workers, and operating revenues fell by 80 percent after Beijing banned nonprofit tutelage last year after imposing new rules on private education in the country, according to its founder.

Yu Minhong, who founded the company in 1993, posted figures in his official WeChat account on Saturday in a July 2021 rehearsal showing how the crackdown hit one of China’s largest private tutoring companies.

WeChat’s publication did not specify a period for the decline in operating income.

Prior to the new rules, New Oriental had 105,200 employees, including 54,200 teachers, according to its website.

Chinese authorities last year banned non-profit tutoring in an attempt to relieve pressure on children and parents in school curriculum subjects, leading to a wave of school closures and dismissals in the private education sector.

The Middle East, which has been declining by 90% since the rules were announced, is trying to focus its business on other sectors that are not affected by regulations, such as dance and drawing classes and teaching Chinese to foreigners. markets.

Yu also directed the company to sell fruits and vegetables via live streaming and said the company intends to set up its own live streaming e-commerce platform for farmers.

“The New East found too many changes in 2021,” he said in a WeChat message.

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