A boy in China became so stressed out by his studies that he reported his weekend tuition classes to the police.

For context, conducting private tuition classes on weekends and holidays for students under 16 is banned in China.

This is part of the country's "Double Reduction" policy, which aims to ease the academic pressures that students in China face, among others.

Double reduction policy

The boy's plight came to light after CCTV footage of him at the police station went viral.

The boy was wearing his school uniform when he approached police officers at a station in Xiangyang, Hubei province, central China, in December 2023.

According to Jiupai News, the boy is a junior high student.

He told the officers that he wanted to file a report against his tuition classes, adding that he did not want to attend them any longer before the clip was cut.

A police officer could be heard in the next part of the clip asking the boy: "Homework in the morning and tuition classes in the afternoon. You must be under a lot of stress, right?"

The boy agreed and appeared to be crying as the female police officer could be seen preparing tissues for him to wipe his tears.

The officer reassured the boy: "Your results are quite good, but your parents just want you to try a little harder."

The boy later told the officer that he ranks number eight in his class and 25 in his grade at school, to which she exclaimed, "That is great".

In the next portion of the clip, which presumably showed a different part of the police station, two officers could be seen guiding the boy with his math homework.

Double reduction policy

The boy has won sympathy from people on the internet, most of whom commented that children are becoming too stressed by their studies.

And their views are not unfounded.

In fact, China formulated the double reduction policy to tackle the negative repercussions stemming from its highly competitive, and highly stressful, education system, which could result in students' physical and mental health deteriorating.

Besides the banning of private tuition, the double reduction policy has also tightened homework requirements, where first- and second-grade cannot be given homework.

Students in third- to sixth-grade and junior high school can be assigned homework, only if it can be completed within 60 minutes and 90 minutes respectively.

Top image from Weibo