On Dec. 13, the Ministry of Education said that homework help apps, which allow students to get answers by taking photos and uploading them online, will be removed(移除, 删除) for the moment. These apps may make students lazy, affect their independent thinking and go against the law of education teaching, the ministry said.
Some online tutoring(辅导) apps may be affected, and they have many users. For example, the Zuoyebang app had more than 100 million users in 2020, according to a report by Xueyan Thinktank. Meanwhile, at the end of 2019, about 8. 6 billion searched had been made in the Xiaoyuan Souti app. It solved at least 23. 47 million questions each day, reported Global Times.
These homework help apps spoiled some students, an English teacher surnamed Yan, from Hebei province, told Global Times. "They finish homework efficiently, but score poorly in exams. "
However, students are not the only ones who use such apps. Some parents also log in to help children with their homework.
"It was challenging for me to solve fifth﹣grade math questions. "A parent surnamed Lu told online newspaper Sixth Tone. "Now he's in the eighth grade. I'm at a loss if I need to check his homework. Removal of these apps means a lot of trouble for me. "