Since the central government’s ban on off-campus tutoring, many Children have been unable to attend Shutoon’s classes. Meanwhile, investors who have backed the brand say their finances are in trouble.

“Just one branch in Guangzhou’s Yuexiu district involves 1,500 students and more than 30 million yuan (US$4.7 million) in unrefunded fees,” said Zhang Rong, who has an eight-year-old daughter.

Shutoon was unavailable for comment on Friday.

And in late August, the China-based operations for Wall Street English – one of the world’s largest English-tutoring firms, with about 3 million alumni and annual enrolments of roughly 180,000 students – filed for bankruptcy. The company is now owned by Baring Private Equity Asia and Citic Capital, which sold the China division to Wall Street English’s founder, Luigi Tiziano Peccenini, last year.

One investor in Shutoon said he spent 2 million yuan to open a centre in Guangdong earlier this year. He said he was enticed by Shutoon’s ambitious plan to open 1,000 schools nationwide and launch an IPO within five years, particularly as up to US$10 billion yuan in venture capital poured into China’s ed-tech sector last year alone. The massive cash flow spawned hundreds of start-ups, apps and ed-tech platforms providing everything from K-12 tutoring to elementary mathematics, language skills and music.

But Shutoon’s ambitions came to an abrupt end this summer.

It also banned tutoring on weekends, public holidays and school holidays. In addition, in August, China’s education authorities terminated 286 cooperative programmes between Chinese and foreign universities as part of a routine assessment of collaborative arrangements with foreign institutions, including City University London, New York University and the University of Hong Kong.

Most of the private education institutes and schools had been hiring a large number of foreigners as English teachers – online and offline. According to official statistics from the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, more than 400,000 foreigners were working in China’s education industry in 2017.

But many who remain have lost their jobs – including part-time and full-time positions – and even their work visas that allowed them to stay in China. Massive lay-offs are taking place in China’s private education sector. Those who have shed staff include New York-listed Gaotu Group, formerly known as GSX Techedu; New Oriental Education and Technology Group; TAL Education Group; ByteDance; Zuoyebang; and Yuanfudao.

On Facebook, which is banned in mainland China but accessible with a VPN, a public group with more than 30,000 members – called Hired Online ESL Teachers with Job Reviews – saw several posts related to tutors who have worked in China, some for years.

“For many of us, our journey with Chinese students may be over. But let’s celebrate the work we’ve done! How many classes have you taught to the Chinese market,” one person wrote in a post that received a flurry of replies.

“3,490 classes in 849 days to 619 students,” one said.

“15,274 classes to 2,839 students in 1,499 days,” another wrote.

The Post contacted several qualified ESL teachers who are still helping students in China, but none were willing to comment, for fear of backlash.

Indeed, the black market for tutoring is expected to soar in China, particularly among wealthy middle- and upper-class families who can afford to pay a premium to give their children an advantage.

One mother in Shenzhen said her son’s English teacher is leaving China because of the new regulations, but she intends to keep allowing her son to learn from his teacher online.

“Learning English is vital for my children, especially from a foreign teacher who can give them insight into Western culture and society and even help them learn to think more critically,” the mother said. “This is what local public schools cannot offer.

“Some native-speaking foreigners are also still part-time tutoring. They even earn much more … because of the authorities’ crackdown. The demand is huge.”

Not all tutors are able to stay, however. And others are not willing to take the risk of working in a profession that has been banned.

“I worked almost five years in China as a teacher,” said a Canadian woman in Guangdong who declined to give her name. “I can speak Chinese – not really good, but enough for kids … I had a lot of students, and my heart is crying because I need to leave.”

She left China on Friday.

“I was trying to renew my job visa but was rejected,” she lamented, adding that she was not given a reason, but assumes it was because of the new crackdown. “Maybe it is just time to go back home, because I have not seen my family for more than two years, since before the coronavirus started here. That’s OK, but I want to keep my students with me. I want to continue because I know that kids in China really want to learn English.”

She said she plans on keeping in touch with them when she returns to Canada, but it won’t be the same.