Ningbo tries out private training institution insurance scheme

The China Insurance Museum opens on Jan 12 in the Old Bund in Jiangbei district, Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/IC]

Private educational and training institutions in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province can now be insured against risks thanks to the launch of a trial scheme by local authorities, the first of its kind ever seen in China.

The insurance is mainly for protecting educational and training institutions against security risks in their places of business, such as accidents, and liability risks involved in contract fulfillment.

Private educational and training institutions have risen in popularity in recent years, in Ningbo and throughout China. However, the large number and varying quality of such institutions poses its own problems.

According to statistics from the Ningbo Education Bureau, the city now has 1,245 registered private educational and training institutions, but some of them face many risks in their daily operation, in security, financial management and contract fulfillment.

Before the insurance trial scheme was launched, the city had a deposit-based system in place for such institutions, collecting 200,000 yuan ($29,800) from each institution to guard against risks, which was a large burden for small institutions.

"It is estimated that each of the city's private educational and training institutions will only have to pay a 8,000 yuan premium on average with the new scheme," said Duan Yuanjuan, deputy director of the property insurance department of China Insurance Regulatory Commission Ningbo Bureau.

Ningbo is one of the first cities in China to have developed the insurance industry and was approved by the State Council in 2016 to build the nation's first insurance innovation pilot zone.

It also opened the China Insurance Museum on Jan 12, which is the nation's first insurance museum.