China's market regulator announced a record fine of 1, 36.5 million yuan (5.72 million) imposed on 15 educational firms at a press conference held on June 1.

Yuan Xilu, director of the Price Supervision and Anti-Unfair Competition Bureau of the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), introduced the inspection of two leading educational firms, Zuoyebang and Yuanfudao, in early May.

Based on this, the SAMR has recently organized local market supervision departments to conduct key inspections of 13 out-of-school training institutions, including New Oriental Education, TAL Education Group, OneSmart International Education Group Ltd., and Zhangmen.

The inspection found that all 15 out-of-school training institutions had false advertising violations and 13 of them were guilty of pricing fraud. The market regulators imposed maximum fines on each of the 15 educational firms, totaling 36.5 million yuan ($5.72 million).

Misrepresentation, exaggeration, and inducement were the main features of the off-campus training institutions’ violations found in this key inspection.

For example, these educational institutions falsified teachers' qualifications, exaggerated training effects, boasted institutional strength, fabricated user reviews, and fudged original prices.

Some "discounted prices" seem to bring great benefits to consumers. But through the huge spread between the list price and the actual price, the educational firms induce a large number of parents to pay the bill.

(US$1 = 6.3831 yuan)