Unintended Consequences of China’s ‘Double Reduction’ Policy:

Systemic Challenges and Proposed Solutions

Lijie Kevin Yu

The International Division of No.2 High School of East China Normal University, Shanghai, 201203, China

Keywords: Gaokao, “Double Reduction” Policy, Students, Teachers.

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.

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Current Situation

Education has always been a critical social institution

nowadays. As China’s population grows rapidly,

competition among peers has become increasingly

fierce. This sense of pressure has even extended into

the age of students. As a result, the academic burden

on students has become one primary concern in

education. A significant portion of students’ pressure

can originate from the National College Entrance

Examination (Gaokao). The Gaokao is an

irreplaceable part of China’s education system. It is a

unified national selection examination that can

quickly score students’ knowledge and ability in

learning and allocate them, different individuals, to

different universities. In other words, as long as a

student’s Gaokao score exceeds the admission score

of a university, they can be directly admitted to that

university despite any other background. Therefore,

the core objective of many schools and other

educational institutions in China is to help students

achieve higher scores in Gaokao. Consequently, most

https://orcid.org/ 0009-0000-5929-9201

schools in China have started preparing students for

the Gaokao since the period of elementary school.

Gaokao score is not the only dimension used to

measure a person’s knowledge and ability to learn.

Educational institutions often suppress their

development in other aspects to improve students’

Gaokao scores. The well-developed off-school

training institutions led to a great imbalance in

educational resource distribution. Students from

better-off families could obtain better learning

resources and tutoring opportunities by participating

in various a fter-school training programs, while

students from less affluent families might fail to do

so. This phenomenon exacerbated educational

inequality and failed to achieve equal education. In

response to these educational issues, the Chinese

government put in force an intervention—the

“Double Reduction” policy.

1.2 The Objectives of the “Double

Reduction” Policy

China proposed the “Double Reduction” policy in

2021. It aims to alleviate students’ academic pressure

Yu, L. K.

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

DOI: 10.5220/0013833700004708

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Innovations in Applied Mathematics, Physics, and Astronomy (IAMPA 2025), pages 589-594

ISBN: 978-989-758-774-0

589

and regulate the extracurricular training burden on

students in the compulsory education stage (middle

and primary school students in China). Then, all

students can receive school education in a relatively

fair environment, avoiding unequal educational

opportunities due to economic factors. At the same

time, the policy emphasizes improving the quality of

school education, optimizing assignment design, and

providing after-school services, with the goal of

offering each student more equitable and high-quality

educational resources to meet their learning needs and

promote their versatile development. However, the

policy may still lead to other issues. This paper will

study the impact of the “Double Reduction” policy on

high students and society through game theory.

1.3 Analytical Framework

This study evaluates the “Double Reduction” policy

through a multi-stakeholder perspective, examining

its impacts on students, parents, teachers, and the

education market. The analysis draws on:

Policy Implementation: Assessing gaps between

policy objectives and outcomes (e.g., unintended

consequences like tutoring market disruptions

Educational Equity: Critiquing whether the policy

achieves its goal of reducing inequality (e.g.,

persistent disparities due to private tutoring).

Behavioral Adaptation: Exploring how

stakeholders (students, parents, teachers) adjust

strategies under new constraints (e.g., reallocating

freed time).

2 CASE DESCRIPTION

2.1 Main Details of “Double

Reduction” Policy

The “Double Reduction” policy refers to reducing

both the assignment burden on students in the

compulsory education stage and the burden of off-

campus training (Wang et al., 2022). The policy

stipulates that the total amount and duration of

assignments should be strictly reduced. Schools must

ensure no written assignment is assigned to students

in the first and second grades of primary school.

Some revision exercises can be arranged within the

school. For students in grades three to six, the average

time spent on written assignments should not exceed

60 minutes, and for junior high school students, it

should not exceed 90 minutes (Shan, 2024).

2.2 Changes after the “Double

Reduction” Policy

The issue of the “Double Reduction” policy has

exposed the predicament of children’s “time

poverty”. With their childhood time being drawn into

the accelerating time structure dominated by capital

and technology. The accelerating temporal violence

has deprived children of their resonance with the

world, resulting in the compression of childhood

(Ming et al., 2011). One typical feature of childhood

compression is overwhelming stress. Sleep duration

is a simple measurement of stress. After the “Double

Reduction” policy, the sleep time of 60% of primary

and secondary students has increased in different

degrees. 9.41% have increased their sleep time by

more than 2 hours; 21.66% have increased it by 1 to

2 hours; 28.88% have increased it by 0 to 1 hour. The

average sleep time then becomes 7.65 hours for

primary school students and 7.48 hours for middle

school students, but it still does not meet the Ministry

of Education’s requirement: primary school students

should sleep for 10 hours; middle school students

should sleep for 9 hours each day (Wu & Yu, 2025).

This indicates that the “Double Reduction” policy has

not completely solved the problem of students’ sleep

duration; that is, it has not reduced the students’ stress

efficiently.

3 PROBLEMS BROUGHT BY

THE “DOUBLE REDUCTION”

POLICY

3.1 Pressure of the College Entrance

Examination

The “Double Reduction” policy attempts to alleviate

the pressure on Gaokao. The pressure of Gaokao is

one core reason for students to increase their study

time and reduce their sleep time. Gaokao is one of the

most important exams in China. As a national unified

examination, it is very difficult and unfair. It can

efficiently classify tens of millions of students into

general categories. Therefore, when it comes to

university admission, as long as a student’s score

reaches the admission line of a certain university, they

can attend that university. It is generally believed that

entering a high-quality university means having

better life expectations, so the college entrance

examination acts as a key turning point in life. A

social trend has gradually spread in China: the core

compulsory educational goal is only to help students

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obtain higher scores in Gaokao. In summary,

spending more time studying for Gaokao can improve

the score, but at the same time, lead to other negative

effects. The “Double Reduction” policy has not

effectively solved this problem.

The major exam pressure faced by students can be

roughly divided into the following categories. Social

pressure: worrying about “not doing well” and not

meeting social standards. Peer competition pressure:

feeling bad when inferior compared to others. Family

pressure: overly high subjected goals by parents. Self-

pressure: hoping to improve grades through one’s

own efforts but repeatedly falling short of

expectations (Zuo et al., 2023). A certain degree of

pre-exam pressure is mostly common, even

propelling students’ motivation to learn. Moderate

competition and pressure from peers can encourage

students to study hard. Appropriate external

motivation from the family enforces students’ study.

Suitable expectations provide a strong internal

driving force for study. However, any excessive

pressure will have negative effects. Peer pressure

exerts a direct influence on academic stress in

adolescents (Sarfika et al., 2024). Overly high

objectives goals, whether set by parents or students

themselves, lead to students’ inability to achieve

them, causing them to feel exhausted and lose

confidence. Due to the significance of the college

entrance examination, students tend to magnify these

pressures, usually to a negative extent. Some

exaggerated and unnecessary thoughts, such as

“worrying about not meeting social standards” may

fill up a student’s mind. While failing to alleviate

these systematic pressures, the policy’s temporal

reallocation has generated new behaviour dilemmas,

where ostensibly “liberated” time becomes contested

terrain between parents, students, and educators.

3.2 Few Increases in Freedom

3.2.1 Other Constraints

After the implementation of the “Double Reduction”

policy, students’ free time has indeed increased due

to the reduction in school assignments and the

decrease in after-school tutoring classes. However,

there are still other factors that limit students’

freedom. One typical example is family management.

Some parents want to fill their children’s extra free

time based on their opinions, such as enrolling them

in non-academic classes. For instance, a parent might

want to improve their children’s fitness through

soccer, which the child has no interest in. The parent

forces the children to join a soccer club. Faced with

the expectations of their parents, who have spent

money, the child might want to perform well in a

soccer club, which is difficult to do because it is

contradictory to their interests. Alternatively, the

child might loaf in the club only to fulfill the parents’

expectations. In both cases, it is a waste of the

parent’s money, the child’s time, and the club’s

resources. In comparison, accepting a large number

of assignments and after-school tutoring classes

before the “Double Reduction” policy could improve

academic performance, even if the improvement

might be subtle. In either case, the additional tasks

imposed by parents to fill students’ extra free time is

a poorer strategy than schoolwork.

3.2.2 Perceptual Bias

People are always dissatisfied with current statuses.

Students who have not experienced both education

systems before and after the “Double Reduction”

policy find it hard to perceive the increased freedom

brought about by the policy. Therefore, most of them

do not “appreciate” the extra free time brought by the

policy and thus do not make efficient use of it. To

draw an analogy, people who have experienced war

times often long for peace, while a large number of

people living in peace do not consider peace as a

factor in their happiness and still think life is difficult.

Similarly, students who have not experienced the

high-pressure environment before the “Double

Reduction” policy cannot perceive how precious the

extra time is after the policy. Even worse, since most

students do not enjoy studying, they think the learning

pressure is still too great. No matter to what degree

the government controls the time of mandatory

studying, over time, students will gradually adapt to

the current learning pressure and desire to reduce it

further. In conclusion, although students’ freedom

has increased, they can hardly perceive it.

3.3 Allocating Extra Time

Before the “Double Reduction” policy, students were

forced to study (finish assignments and attend after-

school classes) for a considerable amount of time. For

some poor self-discipline students, the additional free

time provided by the “Double Reduction” policy is

often wasted on playing games, having fun, etc. This

time could be used at a higher level of efficiency by

studying, even if the study is mandated. Moreover,

most students lack a strong sense of purpose. Without

clear task requirements, even if they want to make

efficient use of their free time, they do not know how

to do so. In comparison, before the “Double

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

591

Reduction” policy, students have more fixed goals to

achieve. Although students have relatively more free

time after the “Double Reduction” policy, if they

don’t make efficient use of it, the effectiveness of this

period is still inferior to that before the policy.

3.4 Disruption of Market Balance

3.4.1 Tutoring Difficulties

Excessive tutoring is not recommended; appropriate

tutoring can help students improve their grades. After

the “Double Reduction” policy, the state has

explicitly banned mini-class tutoring in institutions,

leaving students who need such tutoring unable or

struggling to receive external assistance. One

common tutoring option that has been allowed since

the “Double Reduction” policy is one-to-one teaching.

However, the cost of one-to-one teaching is much

higher than that of group classes, making the class

less cost-efficient. Even so, to improve their

children’s grades, families often have to bear the high

costs. For these families, the “Double Reduction”

policy has brought many educational and economic

difficulties.

3.4.2 Teacher Unemployment

A large number of teachers who worked in tutorial

centers are now facing unemployment. In society,

large-scale unemployment can undermine the market

benefit. Before finding suitable jobs, these teachers

cannot contribute to society as much as they did

before. In most cases, the market can achieve its new

market equilibrium over time, but in this case, it is

hardly possible. The key issue is that many teachers

do not seek other jobs; they stick to their tutoring out-

of-school. Due to the high demand for tutoring,

teachers will find ways to find students to teach. This

is often the case when these teachers provide private

tutoring, as mentioned in 3.4.1. In brief, the “Double

Reduction” policy leads to unemployment and

failures in controlling the tutoring market. Moreover,

the policy not only increases the pressure on both

students and teachers but also creates difficulty for

government management.

4 POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

TO ALLEVIATE GAOKAO

PRESSURE

4.1 Diversifying Assessment Criteria

Beyond Gaokao Scores

Examinations are tools, and their effectiveness

depends on how they are used, not on the tools

themselves (Yu, 2019). The college entrance

examination is one of the most fair selection systems.

While standardized test scores provide a quantifiable

measure of academic ability, relying solely on them

may lead to an incomplete assessment of a student’s

potential. A student with a higher examination score

does not necessarily mean that this student is more

capable than those with lower scores. By reducing the

weight of Gaokao scores in evaluating a student’s

absolute strength, students’ anxiety about Gaokao can

be alleviated. Therefore, students can be encouraged

to develop in other aspects, such as personal talents.

Currently, many universities in China offer

scholarships to outstanding athletes, such as those

who have won awards in the Olympics. However,

there are still other requirements for these athletes to

be admitted to universities. In addition to meeting the

standards for sports performance, they must also meet

some level of education; that is, they need to have

graduated from high school or have equivalent

educational qualifications (Wang, 2023). This

indicates that no matter how strong a student’s talents

are, the college entrance examination score remains

an indispensable criterion for administration.

Therefore, students may give up their special talents

to prepare for the college entrance examination. For

most students, achieving such a high level of

accomplishment in special talents is difficult. If they

only remain at the level of hobbies, universities

generally will not take it into account when admitting

students. To promote students’ comprehensive

development and talent development, talent

development should also be regarded as an aspect of

assessment. The government can strictly set

corresponding difficulty levels for different subjects

and corresponding grades. This can ensure that

students efficiently utilize their time for their hobbies

and interests, reduce the mono centrality of the

college entrance examination in evaluating a person’s

ability, and thereby alleviate the pressure of the

college entrance examination.

4.2 Reducing Parents’ Work Stress

Excessive overtime work is a widespread issue in

China’s corporate culture. For some top companies,

employees can work up to 120 hours per month over

time (Yang et al., 2025). During overtime work,

energy is exhausted, causing parents to be

overwhelmed when they get home. They either cut off

all the time spent with their children and directly go

to sleep, or they have to deal with their families with

tired bodies. Research shows that the time spent with

children can make the family atmosphere warmer.

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The difference in warm parenting between mothers

and sons is closely related to children’s aggressive

behavior and disciplinary violations (Zheng et al.,

2025). Higher warmth parenting can reduce

children’s aggressive behaviors and disciplinary

violations, and vice versa. Thus, reducing parents’

work stress directly contributes to healthier child

development by enabling more quality family time.

Under high-pressure work conditions, parents find it

difficult to provide effective time with their children.

Reducing parents’ work stress can increase the time

spent with children, thereby promoting the parent-

child relationship and benefiting both sides.

Children can reduce loneliness by doing family

activities, while parents can better understand their

children. At the same time, parents no longer need to

sign their children up for classes or clubs that children

are not interested in to fill their children’s free time.

Conversely, parents can accompany their children

themselves.

4.3 Expanding After-School Programs

for Holistic Development

Offering after-school learning classes not only

facilitates students’ pursuit of their interests and

hobbies but also helps address the issue of a

significant number of unemployed teachers.

The core objective of the “Double Reduction”

policy is to alleviate students’ excessive worry and

effort in striving for a better Gaokao score. This is

almost unrelated to offering after-school learning

classes other than Gaokao subjects. For instance,

students who want to participate in off-school

mathematics competitions usually do so out of

interest rather than to improve their Gaokao scores in

mathematics. Prohibiting students from attending the

classes they are willing to spend time on will be

unfavorable to utilizing their time. A more balanced

approach would be to allow non-Gaokao-related

courses while maintaining restrictions on excessive

exam-focused tutoring. Therefore, restricting

learning classes related to mathematics competitions

will not reduce students’ pressure from Gaokao;

instead, it limits the learning channels for these

competition-oriented students. Instead, subjects that

are not directly related to Gaokao should be allowed

to be taught.

The issue of large teacher unemployment is

mainly because almost all tutorial teachers lost their

jobs simultaneously due to the “Double Reduction”

policy and were unable to find new jobs in a short

period of time. Allowing some establishment of after-

school learning classes would enable these teachers to

transition from in-school-subjected tutorial teachers

to off-school-subjected tutoring, thereby significantly

reducing the unemployment rate.

5 CONCLUSION

5.1 Key Findings

This paper examines persistent and emerging issues

in China’s education system under the ‘Double

Reduction’ policy and proposes targeted solutions.

These core problems are: (1) Persistent Gaokao

pressure and limited student autonomy; (2) Inefficient

free time allocation; (3) Imbalance in the teacher

labor market. To address these issues, the following

solutions are proposed: (1) Improving the Gaokao

policy to make it not the sole criterion for evaluating

students. (2) Reducing parents’ work burden to

increase the quality time between parents and

children to promote family relationships. (3)

Establishing non-tutoring extracurricular classes to

enable students to conveniently learn knowledge

outside the school curriculum while reducing the

unemployment rate of teachers.

5.2 Research Significance

China’s rapid development in the past decade has

transformed its education system, yet structural flaws

remain unresolved. Approaches to forming an

efficient and precise evaluation method of student

ability have become a troublesome problem.

Although the current “double reduction” policy has

indeed improved China’s education system, it still

leaves behind and generates many problems. This

article focuses on some core issues and proposes three

effective solutions. These recommendations align

with the global trend of holistic education reform (e.g.,

Finland’s competency-based assessment), while

adapting to China’s unique institutional context.

5.3 Limitations

The limitations of this article lie in the fact that all the

issues discussed are at the theoretical stage and have

not been taken into action yet. Unintended

consequences are unable to be predicted and can not

be taken into account in this article. Moreover, all the

data used in this article are secondary and lack real-

time tracking of the actual situation of education in

China. Additionally, this article fails to distinguish

the differences in education among students from

different regions and social classes. Future research

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

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should incorporate longitudinal data and region-

specific case studies to validate these proposals.

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