Many people have fallen victim to unauthorized family education instructor certification programs since China enacted the Family Education Promotion Law this year, which made parents accountable for their children’s misbehavior, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday.

Training institutions claimed that the new position, which authorities haven’t approved yet, was in high demand after the law came into effect on Jan. 1. Advertisers said a few weeks of training could fetch full-time jobs that paid as much as 300,000 yuan ($44,715) annually, or part-time positions offering 500 yuan per hour.

Family education instructor was among the 18 new occupations published by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security in June. Individuals who took this job would be responsible for ensuring the proper implementation of the relevant law, while guiding parents about fulfilling their educational responsibilities at home, and providing solutions to any issues that may arise.

However, the ministry is yet to formulate standards on training and certification for qualified candidates.

The Xinhua investigation found that companies were seeking applicants with no educational enrollment requirements. They usually offered training programs for between 20 and 100 hours that cost as much as 10,000 yuan.

On Wednesday, a sales representative of one training institute that has hundreds of branches across the country told Sixth Tone that such programs were mostly attended by parents and educators. The institute would help graduates to connect with multiple hiring platforms to find jobs.

“Exams are not difficult, and everyone can pass,” the person said, without giving her name. “We will give you a question bank to prepare half a month before the exam.”

Several people who attended the training programs told Xinhua that the courses weren’t up to standard, and all course materials were available online for free.

Some insiders said most teachers in the so-called training institutions were sales staff, while people who fell prey to such training centers told Xinhua that they didn’t find any jobs as promised after obtaining their certificate.

“I have uploaded my certificate and information on multiple platforms, but no one has taken any interest so far,” said Liu, who spent over 3,000 yuan on the course in March.

Li Haiyun, an associate professor at Shanxi Normal University, told Xinhua that China’s professional standards for family education are still not perfect, paving the way for low-quality courses to flood the market. She said that professional family education practitioners require the right knowledge and experience, and it was necessary to standardize the qualifications of practitioners and regulate training institutions.

Editor: Bibek Bhandari.

(Header image: VCG)