Abstract: The paper examines the impact of the “Double Reduction” policy implemented in 2021 on the academic burden,family education expenditure,and physical and mental health of parents/students in primary and secondary schools.The excessive academic burden has raised concerns in society and academia.The rise of the extracurricular education industry and educational competition may have worsened the situation,leading to increased stress on students and parental anxiety.This exam-oriented approach and the focus on further education not only burden families financially but also hinder students’ physical and mental development,stifling creativity and innovation necessary for future progress.Previous policies aimed at reducing educational burden primarily focused on decreasing workload within schools,but studies found that parents often compensated by increasing spending on extracurricular education,and this intensified competition disproportionately affect students from low-income families and rural areas.To address these issues,the“Double Reduction” policy was introduced on July 242021,aiming to effectively reduce academic workload,off-campus training burden,family educational expenses,and parental effort.It imposes strict regulations on both in-school learning and off-campus tutoring,focusing on curbing excessive competition and promoting a balanced educational resource distribution.
We conducted a nationwide survey covering approximately 2 000 primary and secondary school parents from 29 provinces across the country to examine the effects of the “Double Reduction” policy.The survey collected detailed information on students and families during the two semesters,before and after the implementation of the policy.The questionnaire was designed in line with the guiding principles and objectives of the policy,consisting of three main sections:the reduction of academic burden within and outsideschool (detailed activities of students during school hours,after-school study,and off-campus tutoring),family educational investment (financial and time investment in various educational activities),and the physical and mental health of parents and students,as well as their subjective perceptions and beliefs.Using the survey data,we employed an individual fixed effects model and a generalized difference-in-differences model based on policy intensityto compare the two semesters before and after the implementation of the “Double Reduction” policy.
We find that after the policy implementation,the average total duration of students’ after-school study decreased by approximately one-fourth,family educational expenditure and parental time investment decreased by about 15%,and there were significant improvements in parental stress,students’physical and mental health,learning initiative,and parent-child relationships.These effects exhibited considerable heterogeneity across different households.Compared to families with parents holding graduate degrees,families with parents with undergraduate degrees or below experienced a more pronounced reduction in the burden of educational expenditure,and these parents and students also experienced relatively greater improvements in their physical and mental health.Further exploration of parental attitudes revealed that parents generally believed that the overall impact of the “Double Reduction” policy on their children was positive.Moreover,parents with more positive views towards the policy and those who believed that other families would also reduce their competitive educational investment simultaneously tended to reduce their educational burden to a greater extent.This suggests that parental decisions regarding educational investment are largely strategic responses to cope with the educational decisions of other families in a competitive environment,resembling the prisoner’s dilemmain educational investment.
It should be emphasized that depression is now widespread among Chinese adolescents,as well as the anxiety and pressure experienced by parents.Therefore,variables related to the physical and mental health of students and parents are crucial dimensions for policy evaluation,which have not received sufficient attention in previous literature.The findings of this analysis indicate that the “Double Reduction” policy has significant positive effects on improving the physical and mental health of parents and children.These findings contribute to a timely and comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted impacts of the “Double Reduction” policy,providing support for the continued advancement and optimization of educational policies.
This study is the first comprehensive quantitative analysis of the effects of the “Double Reduction” policy using household-level data on educational investment and behaviors.Existing research has mainly focused on the reduction of academic burden within schools prior to 2021.However,the uniqueness of the “Double Reduction” policy lies in its simultaneous restriction of both in-school education supply and off-school tutoring services.Until now,there has been very limited research on the effects of the “Double Reduction” policy.This study,based on detailed micro-level survey data covering two academic semesters before and after the policy implementation,can more directly and causally quantify the effects of the “Double Reduction” policy,effectively filling the gap in existing research.These rigorous and timely evaluations of the effects of the “Double Reduction” policy can provide references for the continued policy refinements in educational burden reduction and the establishment of long-term instituitional arrangement.