Children of DiDi taxi drivers to get free online education

Car-hailing company DiDi signed a cooperation agreement with TAL Education Group in Beijing on Wednesday to provide free online courses for the children of taxi drivers.

The courses, worth 30 million yuan ($5 million), cover all subjects from primary to high school. Children can study courses at home using a mobile terminal, saving parents time to send or pick up children from off-line tutorial classes.

According to Zhu Jingshi, vice president of DiDi, all 153 million registered taxi drivers of DiDi can apply for the courses on the company's mobile app. The car-hailing company will assess the drivers and provide courses on the basis of the time of they became registered drivers with the company, the number of passengers served and evaluation received from passengers.

The health and education of children have remained top priorities of Chinese parents, including taxi drivers. A survey conducted jointly by DiDi and TAL showed that although the average monthly income of taxi drivers is only 6,000 yuan, many would like to pay 40 percent of their income for their children’s education.

The survey found that most taxi drivers were born in the 1970s and 1980s and worked seven days a week. More than 70 percent of those polled have children under 18 but very few have time to accompany family and children. Only eight percent of those polled said they have guided their children in doing homework.

For these reasons, 60 percent of drivers hope their children could receive academic guidance from professional tutorial services.