BEIJING - The Ministry of Education (MOE) said China will tighten regulation of after-school training institutions as the winter holiday draws near.

The ministry urged local educational departments to intensify supervision over extracurricular training, as institutions providing such training tend to be much sought after by parents during student holidays.

It also underlined the need to finish a database of after-school institutions, where the public can acquire information.

The ministry said that as of Dec 30, 2018, 269,911 after-school institutions, nearly 99 percent of the 272,842 institutions that were found to previously have problems, had completed rectifications.

The campaign, initiated by the MOE in February 2018, aims to rectify after-school institutions providing students with lessons beyond their level or intensive exam-oriented training.