Tutors learning new lessons in life

Many are changing career paths in the wake of recent changes to regulations. Zou Shuo reports.

Dong Yuhui became an English tutor at New Oriental Education and Technology Group right after graduating from college.

Now, after eight years tutoring about 500,000 students, the 28-year-old is a live streaming host selling agricultural produce.

"It was not an easy decision to make because I was passionate about teaching and very good at my job," he said.

The summer and winter holidays were the busiest times for private tutors, so Dong did not return home for Chinese New Year for several years.

One time, the parents of one of his students invited him to join their family dinner on Chinese New Year's Eve, but he declined as he did not want to intrude. The following day, the start of the new year, the parents left homemade dumplings outside his classroom door while he was teaching.

"I cried while eating those dumplings. Although it is very tiring to teach classes nearly 12 hours a day during vacations, the appreciation shown by students and parents was satisfaction enough," he said.

Two years after joining the private education company, Dong became the youngest head of the English teaching research team at New Oriental's branch in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province.

In 2019, he moved to Beijing and became head of the English teaching department at Koolearn, a New Oriental subsidiary that specializes in online education.

However, late last year, he transitioned to his new job at Dongfang Zhenxuan, Koolearn's livestreaming platform, after new rules were introduced for private providers of education services.

To comply with the government's "double reduction" policy－aimed at reducing the twin burdens of homework and extracurricular classes on primary and middle school students－New Oriental ended its tutoring business for such children at the end of last year.