Unintended Consequences of China’s ‘Double Reduction’ Policy: Systemic Challenges and Proposed Solutions

Lijie Kevin Yu

2025

Abstract

High-quality education is a critical determinant of national development. It shapes both individuals’ socioeconomic contributions and their cognitive-emotional development. Nowadays, China still uses examination scores as one of the core aspects of evaluating others, but examination scores should not be the only one. The most important examination agreed upon by most Chinese is Gaokao, which uses scores as the only evaluating aspect before the implementation of the “Double Reduction” policy. Even though the “Double Reduction” policy does solve some parts of the issue, the problem is not fundamentally resolved. However, three persistent challenges undermine its effectiveness: (1) persistent Gaokao-centric evaluation, (2) inequitable resource allocation, and (3) stakeholder dissatisfaction. These issues hinder the “Double Reduction” policy from achieving its initial goal of education, as well as cause dissatisfaction, particularly among teachers facing unemployment and parents concerned about declining academic competitiveness among people who are involved in education. This article approaches the origin, through policy analysis and case study, of these problems, and the proposed three-pronged solution integrates assessment reform, parental support mechanisms, and teacher redeployment strategies.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Yu L. (2025). Unintended Consequences of China’s ‘Double Reduction’ Policy: Systemic Challenges and Proposed Solutions. In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Innovations in Applied Mathematics, Physics, and Astronomy - Volume 1: IAMPA; ISBN 978-989-758-774-0, SciTePress, pages 589-594. DOI: 10.5220/0013833700004708

in Bibtex Style

@conference{iampa25,
author={Lijie Kevin Yu},
title={Unintended Consequences of China’s ‘Double Reduction’ Policy: Systemic Challenges and Proposed Solutions},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Innovations in Applied Mathematics, Physics, and Astronomy - Volume 1: IAMPA},
year={2025},
pages={589-594},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0013833700004708},
isbn={978-989-758-774-0},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Innovations in Applied Mathematics, Physics, and Astronomy - Volume 1: IAMPA
TI - Unintended Consequences of China’s ‘Double Reduction’ Policy: Systemic Challenges and Proposed Solutions
SN - 978-989-758-774-0
AU - Yu L.
PY - 2025
SP - 589
EP - 594
DO - 10.5220/0013833700004708
PB - SciTePress