Action taken to ease burden on students

"It is not acceptable if my son ends up in a vocational high school, because such a school cannot guarantee him a decent job or the social status that a degree from a good university can," Wei said.

Her son started taking tutoring courses in Chinese language, math and English when he was in the first grade. Wei said the boy likes taking the courses because they help him improve his grades and boost his confidence with classmates.

Wei has switched the weekend tutoring courses for the upcoming autumn semester to weekdays.

Sun Wanyu, a middle school teacher in Chaoyang district, Beijing, said her students have had extremely busy academic lives, as their parents have placed too much pressure on their children's academic performance.

Her school is a boarding institution, where students can study by themselves for several hours in classrooms at night during weekdays. However, many of them still take private tutoring courses outside of school, because self-study courses do not offer instruction in new subjects, Sun said.

One student told her that his parents had taken up all his spare time with tutoring courses, and to relax he played with his phone during the courses, which angered them.

Students do not want to take tutoring courses and long for a break from the intense academic pressure, she added.

"Many parents in Beijing had good academic performances when they were students, but they cannot accept the fact that their children might not be as smart or as diligent as they were," Sun said. Parents place too much emphasis on the sacrifices they make for their offspring and become frustrated when their children do not live up to expectations, Sun added.