22. PRC CONTRIBUTION AND PROFIT APPROPRIATION

Full time employees of the Group in the PRC participate in a government-mandated multiemployer defined contribution plan pursuant to which certain pension benefits, medical care, unemployment insurance, employee housing fund and other welfare benefits are provided to qualified employees. PRC labor regulations require the Group to accrue for these benefits based on certain percentages of the employees’ salaries. The relevant local labor bureau is responsible for meeting all retirement benefit obligations; hence, the Group has no further commitments beyond its monthly contributions. The total contributions for such employee benefits were RMB 37,594, RMB 44,456 and RMB 29,910 for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively.

In accordance with the Regulations on Enterprises with Foreign Investment of PRC and their articles of association, the Company’s subsidiaries in the PRC, being foreign invested enterprises established in PRC, are required to provide for certain statutory reserves, namely general reserve, enterprise expansion reserve and staff welfare and bonus reserve, all of which are appropriated from net profit as reported in the Group’s PRC statutory accounts. The Company’s subsidiaries in the PRC are required to allocate at least 10% of their after-tax profits to the general reserve fund until such fund has reached 50% of their respective registered capital. Appropriations to the enterprise expansion fund and staff welfare and bonus fund are at the discretion of the board of directors of the Company’s subsidiaries.

In accordance with the PRC Company Laws, the Group’s VIEs established in PRC make appropriations from their after-tax profits as reported in their PRC statutory accounts to non-distributable reserves, namely statutory surplus reserve, statutory public welfare reserve and discretionary surplus reserve. The Company’s or its non-school subsidiaries’ VIEs are required to allocate at least 10% of their after-tax profits to the statutory surplus reserve until the reserve reaches 50% of each entity’s registered capital. Appropriation to the statutory public welfare fund is 5% to 10% of their after-tax profits as reported in the PRC statutory accounts. Effective from January 1, 2006, under the revised PRC Company Laws, an appropriation to the statutory public welfare reserve is no longer mandatory. Appropriation to the discretionary surplus reserve is made at the discretion of the board of directors of the VIEs.

In accordance with the Law of Promoting Private Education (2003), the Group’s school subsidiaries in PRC must make appropriations from their after-tax profits as reported in their PRC statutory accounts to non-distributable reserves, namely the education development reserve, which requires annual appropriations of at least 25% of after-tax profits or the increase in net assets of private education schools (as determined under accounting principles generally accepted in the PRC at each year-end) to the statutory reserve.

The following table presents the Group’s appropriations to the general reserve fund, statutory surplus reserve and education development reserve as of December 31, 2019 and 2020:


	As of December 31,
	2019	2020
	RMB	RMB

General and statutory surplus reserve	17,348	1,438
Education development reserve	2,837	2,772
Total	20,185	4,210