BEIJING, Aug. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- New Oriental
Education & Technology Group Inc. ("New Oriental" or the
"Company") (NYSE: EDU and SEHK: 9901), the largest provider of
private educational services in China, announced that the Beijing Municipality
Government and the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist
Party of China jointly issued the
"Beijing Municipality's Measures to Further Reduce the Burden of
Homework and After-School Tutoring on Students in Compulsory
Education in Beijing" (the
"Beijing Measures") on August 14,
2021, and published the full text of the Beijing Measures on
August 18, 2021. The Beijing
Measures were adopted to implement the Opinions on Further
Alleviating the Burden of Homework and After-School Tutoring for
Students in Compulsory Education, published in July by the General
Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the
State Council, and aims to ensure that "the excessive burden upon
students from school homework and after-school tutoring, the
education expenditures from their families and the burden on their
parents' energy will be effectively reduced by the end of 2021,
with significant impact achieved within two years."
With respect to after-school tutoring services, among other
things, the Beijing Measures contain the following provisions:
- No new provider of after-school tutoring services on academic
subjects in China's compulsory
education system ("Academic AST") will be approved, while existing
Academic AST providers will be subject to review and
re-registration aimed at reducing their numbers by phases; the
remaining Academic AST providers shall all be registered as
non-profit; previously registered online Academic AST providers
will also be subject to review and re-registration; the
registration and ICP license of any disqualifying online Academic
AST providers will be rescinded.
- After-school tutoring providers are strictly prohibited from
providing Academic AST during any national holiday, weekend, winter
and summer break period; there are further restrictions over when
Academic AST can be offered during weekdays.
- Academic AST providers are prohibited from (i) offering classes
over contents outside of or in advance of the school curriculum,
(ii) offering classes based on any foreign curriculum, (iii)
soliciting and recruiting school teacher by offering excessive
compensation, or (iv) employing foreign personnel to carry out
training activities; non-Academic AST providers are prohibited from
offering Academic AST classes.
- Prices for Academic AST will need to follow the guidelines from
the government to prevent any excessive charging or excessive
profit-seeking activity.
- Academic AST providers are prohibited from financing by way of
listing its securities or conducting other capital market
activities; listed companies may not invest in Academic AST
providers through capital markets fundraising activities, and may
not acquire assets of Academic AST providers by paying cash or
issuing securities; foreign capital is prohibited from controlling
or participating in Academic AST providers through merger and
acquisitions, entrusted operations, joining franchise or using
variable interest entities.
- Enhancing oversight of AST advertising.
Certain other provinces and municipalities in China have reportedly adopted similar measures
and the Company expects that additional provinces and
municipalities may follow similar approaches. The Company's
compliance with these measures will have a material adverse impact
on its existing Academic AST business, results of operations and
financial condition. Specifically, in compliance with the Beijing
Measures, the Company has stopped offering Academic AST classes
over weekends, national holidays and the current school break
period in Beijing. Historically,
the revenues from Academic AST classes offered over these time
periods accounted for the majority of the Company's revenues from
its Academic AST business. The Company will continue to
proactively seek guidance from and cooperate with government
authorities in Beijing and other
provinces and municipalities in connection with its efforts to
comply with the policy directives of the PRC central government and
any related implementation rules, regulations and measures.
Safe Harbor Statement
This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These
statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S.
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These
forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as
"will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans,"
"believes," "estimates" and similar statements. New Oriental may
also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its reports
filed or furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission,
in its annual reports to shareholders, in press releases and other
written materials and in oral statements made by its officers,
directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not
historical facts, including statements about New Oriental's beliefs
and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking
statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of
factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those
contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not
limited to the following: our ability to attract students without a
significant decrease in course fees; our ability to continue to
hire, train and retain qualified teachers; our ability to maintain
and enhance our "New Oriental" brand; our ability to effectively
and efficiently manage the expansion of our school network and
successfully execute our growth strategy; the outcome of ongoing,
or any future, litigation or arbitration, including those relating
to copyright and other intellectual property rights; competition in
the private education sector in China; changes in our revenues and
certain cost or expense items as a percentage of our revenues; the
expected growth of the Chinese private education market; Chinese
governmental policies relating to private educational services and
providers of such services; health epidemics and other outbreaks in
China; and general economic conditions in China. Further
information regarding these and other risks is included in our
annual report on Form 20-F and other documents filed with
the Securities and Exchange Commission. New Oriental does not
undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement,
except as required under applicable law. All information provided
in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of
this press release, and New Oriental undertakes no duty to update
such information, except as required under applicable law.
About New Oriental
New Oriental is the largest provider of private educational
services in China offering a wide
range of educational programs, services and products to a varied
student population throughout China. New Oriental's program, service and
product offerings consist of K-12 after-school tutoring, test
preparation, language training for adults, pre-school education,
primary and secondary school education, education materials and
distribution, online education, and other services. New Oriental is
listed on NYSE (NYSE: EDU) and SEHK (9901.SEHK), respectively. New
Oriental's ADSs, each of which represents one common share. The
Hong Kong-listed shares are fully
fungible with the ADSs listed on NYSE.
For more information about New Oriental, please visit
http://www.neworiental.org/english/.
Contacts
For investor and media inquiries, please contact:
Ms. Sisi Zhao
New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc.
Tel: +86-10-6260-5568
Email: zhaosisi@xdf.cn
Ms. Rita Fong
FTI Consulting
Tel: +852 3768 4548
Email: rita.fong@fticonsulting.com
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SOURCE New Oriental Education and Technology Group Inc.