Arbitrary fees and extra points for college entrance exams—these training institutions deserve punishment!
[2] Compiled from: China Consumer News
Case 1: Failure to Follow Government Guidance Prices
Fuqing Leyou Education Training School, when conducting offline academic tutoring for off-campus training, charged a training fee of 70 yuan per class hour for class sizes of fewer than 10 students. This fee standard exceeds the government-guided price stipulated in the Notice of the Fuzhou Municipal Development and Reform Commission and the Fuzhou Municipal Education Bureau on Formulating the Fee Standards and Related Matters for Offline Academic Off-Campus Training in the Compulsory Education Stage of Our City (not exceeding a maximum of 55 yuan per class hour, with each class hour being 45 minutes). Its conduct falls under the circumstance specified in Article 9, Item (1) of the Provisions on Administrative Penalties for Price Violations, namely “setting prices beyond the floating range of the government-guided price,” and violates the provisions of Article 12 of the Price Law.
In May 2022, the Fuqing Municipal Market Supervision Bureau ordered the parties involved to cease the illegal activities in accordance with the law, refund the overcharged fees to the trainees, and imposed a fine of 10,000 yuan.
The
[1] The People's Republic of China
Price Law
Article 12
[1] Operators engaging in pricing activities shall comply with laws and regulations, and implement government-guided prices, government-set prices, and statutory price intervention measures and emergency measures formulated in accordance with the law.
[2] Case 2:
[3] False promotion of extra points for further education misleading consumers
In its advertising and promotional materials, Lianjiang Xiha Xintiandi Culture Communication Co., Ltd. included false claims such as “street dance grading certificates add points for school admissions”, “holding a high-level grading certificate allows students to enjoy admission to many universities’ high-level art troupes within 20 points below the final simulated cutoff for the first batch of undergraduate admissions, and some universities even allow 40 points”, and “art subjects have been included in the aesthetic education component of the high school entrance examination for bonus points, and 6 provinces and 12 cities have already begun”. The above conduct was misleading, misled consumers, and violated Article 28, Item (3) of the Advertising Law.
In September 2022, the Lianjiang County Market Supervision Bureau ordered the party concerned to cease publishing the illegal advertisement, eliminate the adverse effects within the relevant scope, and imposed a fine of 1,080 yuan.
The
[1] The People's Republic of China
Advertising Law
[6] Article 28
An advertisement that deceives or misleads consumers with false or misleading content constitutes a false advertisement.
An advertisement falls under false advertising in any of the following circumstances:
……
(3) Using fabricated, forged, or unverifiable scientific research results, statistical data, survey findings, abstracts, quotations, or other information as supporting materials;
……
[1] The author's perspective
In today's era of intense competition, many parents enroll their children in extracurricular training courses, whether for academic tutoring or developing hobbies. This demand has allowed training institutions to reap substantial profits. However, some training institutions often engage in illegal or non-compliant practices during their operations, such as using prohibited language in advertisements or arbitrarily charging lesson fees. Although extracurricular training is a trend, institutions should not treat parents as lambs to be slaughtered. In daily operations, they must pay attention to proper methods and approaches; otherwise, relevant regulatory authorities will not stand idly by.
Additionally, parents should keep their eyes open when choosing training institutions, opting for those with established brands and good reputations. They should not be tempted by low prices to blindly prepay lesson fees, as there are many institutions that collect money and then disappear. Moreover, the quality of children's education also needs to be guaranteed.
