Shrinking textbooks to ease pressure on students

Textbooks in primary and middle schools will shrink in September, as the authorities are trying to ease academic pressure on children, the Beijing Morning Post reported.

The Ministry of Education started to review standard textbooks before the 12th National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said Wu Zhengxian, a deputy to the National People's Congress and an elementary education researcher in the Beijing Academy of Educational Sciences, during the Beijing representatives' open discussion.

The move aims to reduce the students' heavy academic pressure. During the review, members found that some of the content is too difficult for students. That content will be removed from the textbooks in the new semester.

"Students won't suffer from heavy study pressure if they follow the standard textbooks," Wu was quoted by the paper as saying.