Michael Yu: New Oriental Donates Nearly 80,000 Sets of Study Desks and Chairs to Rural Areas, Adjusting its Business

Michael Yu, Founder and Chairman of the firm, announced in a post via a Chinese domestic social media platform on Thursday, “With the adjustment of our business, New Oriental has decided to donate new study desks and chairs to primary and secondary schools in rural areas, having donated nearly 80,000 sets so far.”

According to New Oriental, due to a recent business adjustment, many of its service points across the country have been closed, leaving many newly bought study desks and chairs vacant. The company has now sorted out idle desks and chairs and donated them to rural schools in need.

Up to now, 73,366 sets of new desks and chairs have been donated by New Oriental branches in 12 cities including Chengdu, Foshan, Wuhan and Urumqi.

Under the influence of China’s new “Double Reduction” policy, New Oriental has announced that it will gradually shut down its primary and secondary service points and plans to lay off more than 40,000 people. On the evening of October 25, New Oriental Online, an education website owned by New Oriental, also announced that it would terminate K-9 service from kindergarten to ninth grade education in the Chinese mainland.

SEE ALSO: New Oriental to Lay off over 40,000 Employees; Primary and Junior High School Services to Shut Down

Yu also said earlier that New Oriental would “return” to the college student education business. On September 25, New Oriental said at a press conference in Beijing that the company would upgrade its college students’ education business. The company will run projects including CET-4 and CET-6 examinations, postgraduate entrance examination, TOEFL, IELTS, GMAT, GRE, Teacher Qualification Certification and Accountant Assessment Certification. It will also expand to training projects such as the National Computer Rank Examination and the National Judicial Examination in the future.