Education authorities and schools in Huaiyin district, Huai'an, East China's Jiangsu province have implemented a series of measures to alleviate the academic workload of students.

Among the measures is improving the way that homework is assigned. For example, Huaiyin Experimental Primary School and Huai'an Chengbei Kaiming Middle School have assigned homework to students based on their learning abilities.

At Huai'an Beijing Road Primary School, students in the first and second grade have no written homework while those from grade three to six are able to finish their homework within just one hour, said Yan Shouyan, vice-principal of the school. Some optional tasks have also been offered to students who are eager to learn more, added Yan.

Various after-class activities are also available on campuses. Students now can choose from classes about pottery, rope skipping, wood carving, and Huaihai Opera.

Several government departments, including the district's bureaus of public security, market regulation, and culture and tourism, have also worked together to regulate off-campus tutoring institutions. To date, 104 such institutions have been closed down or made to pivot to other businesses.

To build a high-quality education system, Huaiyin has launched a project which involves cultivating 100 teachers and 10 principals with outstanding capabilities, building 10 high-quality schools and designing 100 exemplary classes.

The district has also established education groups that allow urban and rural schools to share resources, which will help promote the balanced development of education, said Li Weiwei, head of the Huaiyin bureau of education and sport.