A growing number of local parents in Shanghai are considering sending their children to private boarding schools in neighboring cities that boast a quiet and rigid education environment.

Nearly 100 local parents visited Wuxi Guanghua School, a private elementary school in neighboring Jiangsu Province, during a three-day period after this year's admissions began in the city this month.

The Wuxi Guanghua will enroll about 1,000 students, ranging from kindergarten to high school, from the city every year, according to Dong Guobing, a school official.

Suzhou International Foreign Language School, another private elementary school in Jiangsu Province, said that children from Shanghai now account for about one-third of its students, forming the largest group among students from all over the country.

Zhou Xiaoyan, SIFLS's local admission official, didn't disclose how many students have signed up to study in Suzhou so far, but she said that admission quotas are already very limited.

"The number of registering parents almost exceeded our quotas, so students have to compete for positions by achieving higher marks in the upcoming entrance examination," Zhou said.

Located in suburban areas of Jiangsu or Zhejiang, most of these schools were set up by private entrepreneurs and have campuses that are two or three times the size of local public schools. Students will live on campus and commute back to the city on weekends.

School officials said students from Shanghai would be arranged in a special class to learn from the same textbooks as their local peers.

"Being away from the metropolis' hustle and bustles, the quiet and well-facilitated campus can provide my son a good study environment," said Liu Ying, a local mother, whose 14-year-old son is now studying in Suzhou.

"Since Suzhou is only about an hour's ride from Shanghai, it's also very convenient to visit him anytime if needed," She added.

Most parents who have sent their children to the boarding schools are quite well-off but have no time to take care of children themselves, school officials said.

The total cost of studying at one of these schools, including tuition fees, food and accommodation, ranges from 10,000 yuan (US$1,204) to 15,000 yuan each semester, plus about 40,000-yuan sponsorship for three years.

Not everyone thinks the schools are worth the cost.

Studying in these schools will ruin a child as investors usually have no education knowledge but only regard the school as a profit-making institute, said Zhou Zhigang, vice headmaster at Jing'an Foreign Language School.

"Students studying there are well-off but under perform in study. Forming such an environment is the biggest taboo in education."

(eastday.com June 15, 2004)