Education and training providers are back in the spotlight after one such institution in Nanjing was handed a large fine for its conduct, marking another blow to the already beleaguered sector after a recent crackdown by Beijing.
It was false publicity and advertising violations by education and training institutions which stoked the ire of the Nanjing Municipal Market Supervision Bureau over the Mid Autumn Festival holiday. All in all, six providers were singled out for administrative punishment.
Among them, it was Nanjing Leling Education and Training Centre (南京乐灵教育培训中心) which received a whopping ¥500,000 fine for the crime of false propaganda, reported The Paper on 21 September.
In particular, the statement which got the company in trouble was its claim that they are, “Experts in the Middle School Entrance Examination”. The company had published the statement, among other falsified claims, on its official WeChat account.
The size of the fine handed down is reflective of the fact that parents in China may no longer enroll their children in after-school classes teaching subjects which are part of the national curriculum, as per the much-publicised recent ruling by central government.
Leling Education’s claim, therefore, would have arguably attracted parents eager for their children to get a leg up on their journey of learning.
The Nanjing Municipal Market Supervision Bureau found the company in violation of Article 8 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law. Their illegal act of false commercial publicity of its services was believed to deceive and mislead consumers.
Also coming foul of the authorities was Nanjing Wenjia Education Technology Co., Ltd. (南京文加教育科技有限公司), but for another reason.
It was found the company had breached China’s advertising law on its Tmall flagship store, with the claim that it “provided the most complete professional course review materials”.
Such a statement violates the provisions of Article 9 of the Advertising Law, which prohibit advertisements from using wording such as “national”, “most advanced” and “best”. The company was handed a fine of ¥100,000.
