Harrow Beijing ordered to abandon its English name

A BEIJING private school affiliated with Harrow has been forced to drop its English name as part of a series of controls on Chinese institutions.

A notice sent to parents last month said Harrow Beijing, one of the first British-style public schools to open in China, will soon be known as LIDE.

The change comes amid a tightening of rules for education providers in China. Last year, schools were told not to use words such as “global”, “international” and “world” in their names. The notice said: “All private licence schools in China can no longer be named using the proprietary name of a foreign educational institution.”

The Chinese government has also barred private companies that offer after-school tutoring and imposed a ban on foreign textbooks in the classroom.

Harrow Beijing gained a licence to operate in 2005 and enrols pupils from more than 30 nationalities, accepting pupils aged three to 18.

The school is managed by Hong Kong-based Asia International School Limited, which was founded by Daniel Chiu, an oil billionaire, and operates schools in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Beijing and other Chinese cities.

The cooperation of Asia International and Harrow dates back to 1997, when Harrow International was established for the management and development of Harrow schools outside of Britain.

A Harrow School spokesman said: “The experience of students and the wider community remains unaltered, and we are confident that Harrow Beijing will continue to provide educational excellence to students in the city.”

However, Christopher King, of the Independent Association of Prep Schools, said: “It is more and more difficult to see how China allows our schools to feel comfortable that their historic vision can be allowed to express itself there.”