East China's Jiangsu province has over the past year made significant achievements in implementing the "double reduction" policy, which aims to reduce the burdens of excessive homework and off-campus tutoring on students, education authorities said at a news conference on July 26.

According to Gu Yuehua, deputy director of the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education, the province has seen positive changes in its compulsory education sector, with the quality of teaching improving and students achieving holistic development. The practice undertaken by cities and schools in Jiangsu has also been promoted across the nation by the Ministry of Education.

Jiangsu's schools have made significant headway in reducing the amount of homework for students. A survey conducted by the China Institute of Education and Social Development of Beijing Normal University showed that 70.4 percent of students in Jiangsu said they have less homework than before, and 87 percent of them can now complete their homework or most of it at school.

More kinds of after-class activities have also been offered. For example, Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu, has selected 421 public welfare projects to provide extracurricular services to schools, especially disadvantaged and rural ones. More than 90 percent of students and their parents in Jiangsu are satisfied with after-class services, according to the survey by Beijing Normal University.

The number of tutoring institutions in Jiangsu has declined from 8,670 to 228, and all such institutions have become non-profit entities, said Gu, the deputy director of Jiangsu education department.

She added that the province will next work on a new version of curriculum standards, introduce policies, and purchase services from the market to further push ahead with "double reduction" efforts.