Courses claiming to teach children to read more than 100,000 words in minutes have stirred controversy after videos of students rapidly flipping through books in a competition went viral on social media.

The video reveals that the competition was organized by a subsidiary of Beijing Xinzhitong Qiguang Education Technology in Yancheng, East China's Jiangsu province, whose teachers call their training method 'quantum speed-reading'. This, they said, enables children to read words and perceive knowledge rapidly, even though some are seen blindly flash-flipping. 

It says that after 72 classes, students can finish reading a 100,000-word book within five minutes. The course is for students aged 10 to 16.

According to the company's ad published on its official WeChat account, the training uses music, meditation and flash cards to enhance student attentiveness and strengthen the right brain to transfer characters into images. 

But the education center's Beijing branch denied any knowledge of a quantum speed-reading course and told Beijing Time that the center had not been authorized to provide it.

The Market Regulation Bureau of Dafeng district in Yancheng told Beijing Time on Wednesday that it has asked the training center to rectify its course promotion because it is one-sided.

The bizarre theory was first brought up by Japanese educator Yumiko Tobitani, who wrote a book on quantum speed-reading. And the practice has been taught worldwide since then. 

'When you flip the pages of the book, images start to appear that help you understand its contents. Another wonderful thing is that even if the text is written in French, German, or English, it would be translated to your own language, and connects to images so that you understand the book immediately,' she said. 

Reactions online are tongue-in-cheek. 'No matter how big the universe is, I could perceive it comprehensively so long as I flip pages quickly,' a netizen wrote. 

Scientists have said the method is completely groundless and China's state TV has advised it is not wise to select such a preposterous learning method because it goes against common sense. 

Yuan Lanfeng, a chemist at the University of Science and Technology of China, said the speed-reading courses were 'utter nonsense' and just one of the many products and services that use scientific jargon to try to deceive the public.

The reason why parents are willing to buy such courses is because of anxiety over their children's academic success, said Xiong Bingqi, deputy director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute. 

'Some of these parents are well educated, and they are also financially comfortable, but they become irrational when it comes to their kids' education — hoping they can gain some kind of superpower overnight,' he said. 

Zou Shuo contributed to the story.

Editor: Jiao Jie 

Intern: Su Yanlei 

Sources: Sixth Tone, South China Morning Post