BEIJING, China: To ensure government control over all schools, China’s State Council has outlawed the teaching of foreign academic subjects from kindergarten to grade nine in both public and private schools.

Further, foreign ownership of schools has been prohibited. Also, schools will be required to appoint members to their board of directors from state school regulators.

China’s private K-9 schools teach both local and foreign subjects.

The new regulations require all members of the boards of directors to be Chinese nationals and must include representatives from the regulators, as outlined in the Private Education Promotion Law and published on a government website.

Private K-9 schools will no longer be able to host entrance exams or recruit students. They also will be barred from creating new private schools or converting themselves into private schools.

Observers have said that China is using the laws to cool the booming private tutoring industry, in a bid to ease pressure on school children and to encourage the growth of the country’s birth rate by lowering education costs, according to Reuters.

The new law is “stricter-than-expected for compulsory education schools (K-9 schools), especially in the complete ban of connected party transactions, and K9 private schools can’t be controlled by agreement,” said U.S. Citi Bank in a note to clients.

Citi also said the new law is expected to impact profits for schools in China’s private education industry.