Online education firm to launch quality courses amid criticism

Chinese online education firm GSX Techedu Inc announced recently the launch of quality-oriented classes, after the company has been under pressure with accusations from US short-sellers.

Genshuixue and Gaotu online, two major brands of GSX, announced that they will offer quality-oriented courses online including history, foreign literature, mathematic thinking as well as family education to students.

"With such new courses, we will leverage more interactive game sessions and more artistic class designs to reshape scenarios in history, nature and life," said Han Yilun, a head responsible for teaching at GSX.

The fresh move came after US short-sellers including Citron and Muddy Waters called on the company over revenue and other financial problems. GSX denied all the allegations as false and ungrounded.

Chen Xiangdong, founder and CEO of GSX, said that the company will continue to gear up efforts in large-class livestreaming courses as a growth engine for the next step.

"We will continue to beef up investment in technological innovation. By end of this year, we expect that there will be 2,200 staff for content, technology and related product research and development," said Chen.

He also disclosed that in the first quarter of this year, the firm had spent nearly 100 million yuan ($14 million) in research and development.

GSX is a technology-driven education company. It mainly offers K-12 courses covering all primary and secondary grades as well as foreign language, professional and interest courses.