Economy

Starting youngsters at an early age

By Zhou Siyu and Yang Ning (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-04-25 11:07

Hundreds of children elbow their way into a test center to sit the Key English Test/Public English Test (KET/PET) in Beijing Bailie University. A high-marked KET/PET certificate can be an effective pass for a primary school pupil to enter a key middle school in Beijing. [Photo / China Daily]

Children taking up English lessons before beginning primary school

BEIJING - English is the most popular course among the nation's youngsters with hundreds of millions of pre-school children across China already embarking on primers.

In China, children under 14 years of age account for more than 20 percent of the 1.3 billion population. More and more parents, either driven by vicarious ambition or peer-pressure, are sending their children to private training organizations to take English lessons before they ever step over the threshold of elementary school.

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"Children are taking English lessons at a younger age every year. Now the average starting age is 5," said Jia Tao, general manager of Global Children's English, a division of Global Education & Technology Co Ltd, a major English training institution in China.

The sector is proving to be profitable. Xie Qin, director of POP Kids Education, a division of the New Oriental Education and Technology Group, the largest provider of English training services in China, said its revenue is expected to increase by 50 to 60 percent this year.

Established in 2004, POP Kids Education targets children aged 4 to 14. Seven years on, it has set up more than 350 teaching sites in 42 cities across the country. Its 2010 fiscal year revenue, by May 31, stood at 500 million yuan ($80 million). This year, the company plans to open another six branch schools, each in a different city, and some franchised teaching sites, Xie said.

Currently, English lessons for teenagers take up only a limited proportion of the burgeoning industry. The total market for China's English-teaching industry was estimated at 15 billion yuan in 2009, about a medium-sized city's annual gross domestic product. It is expected to balloon to 30 billion yuan this year, according to an industry report.

But, robust expansion tends to breed chaos. As numerous players scramble for a bigger market share, fierce competition puts a drag on tuition fees, while labor costs and rent keep rising. Companies may easily fold if they fail to attract enough students. In December 2009, a raft of English teaching institutions in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou closed, igniting widespread concerns and prompting calls for tighter government regulations.

"With everyone rushing into the market, the current teenage English education industry is in chaos," said Zhang Yongqi, president of Global Education & Technology Co Ltd.

"Companies have yet to establish their brands," he said.

Nevertheless, parents will choose whatever they think is best for their children. Diana, a 32-year-old English professor at a college in Beijing, who declined to reveal her Chinese name, said the biggest problem with the current English teaching industry is the quality of teachers.

As an English teacher, she insists her child should be "taught by native speakers with qualification certificates". After scouring the market, she sent her 6-year-old daughter to the comparatively expensive Disney English center.

Diana and her husband spend about 15,000 yuan a year on their daughter's English lessons there. This is enough to support a college student for a year in Beijing.

There is a huge discrepancy in charges, with fees dependent on teaching methods. Some are simply "cramming children with English words from textbooks compiled by Chinese teachers", while some at least try to spark children's genuine interests in the foreign language with original books and movies, Diana said.

For the companies, qualified staff and advanced teaching methods mean higher costs. "The main challenge in this industry is the increasing cost of continual investment in the recruiting and training of teachers," said Xie, the director of POP Kids Education. "But that is also what drives us forward."

Moreover, with a market as big as China, strategic decision-making is further complicated by income gaps and geographical location. "Parents in first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai prefer small classes. The fewer students in a class, the better the learning. They also set high standards for the teaching environment," said Zhang, president of Global Education & Technology Co Ltd.

"In comparison, parents in second- and third-tier cities tend to care more about tuition fees. They generally prefer cheaper lessons," he said.

"Each city grows its own brand, which further segments the current market," said Jia, general manager of Global Children's English.

"It may take more time for a company to garner as much as 10 percent of the market share," he added.

Still, companies and parents are optimistic about the future. Zhang expects revenue from teaching English to teenagers to at least double in the next three years. Diana thinks better linguistic proficiency will provide her daughter with a better understanding of the world.

"She could get started with standard English pronunciation. This is a privilege never enjoyed by previous English learners in China. More important, she will make friends with foreigners and become more international," Diana said.