BEIJING — For the past two years, Wu Dongmei’s 14-year-old son has been attending a private school in Shanghai that offers an international program that prepares students for higher education abroad. All had proceeded smoothly — until recently, she said.

On Oct. 19, the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission summoned the principals of 21 local private schools to explain draft regulations that would restrict international programs in Grades 1 through 9, the years of compulsory education in China. The commission accused schools that had replaced the officially mandated curriculum, which includes classes in political ideology, of “infringing on China’s education sovereignty.”

The commission said that under the proposed regulations the authorities would no longer approve the establishment of any new private schools with “foreign influence” and would “bar foreign investment in private schools.” School curriculums would be monitored to ensure that they “uphold national sovereignty and ideology.” Private schools could not be named after foreigners.

The rules would not apply to international schools set up primarily to educate foreign students.

A woman who answered the telephone at the commission’s office this week said that it was unclear when the new regulations, if approved, might take effect, but that any information would be posted on the commission’s website. The woman declined to give her name.