More than 10 million high school seniors across China have headed to in-person testing centres for the 첹, the country’snotoriously gruelling college entrance exam, amid continuing concerns about Covid-19 and mounting criticism of a system that revolves around a single assessment that has historically favoured the privileged.
From 7 July they will take a test to determine their university chances, and essentially their futures. The exam was postponed from its original date in June over concerns about disease control and, while China has minimised Covid-19 infections in most areas, it was still unclear until recently how the test would proceed in Wuhan, the virus’s original epicentre, and in Beijing, which was hit with a second wave of infections in June.
Now it is full steam ahead, even in those areas. State mediaisfilled with stories of officials, medics and volunteerssafelyto testing sites.Wuhan taxi drivers were giving needy youngsters free lifts,while a special“”was bringingin rural students.
The situation was particularly tense for thealmost50,000 candidates in Beijing,which is still recovering from arecent virus clusterat a food wholesale market.
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“It’s a big challenge,”cited a government spokesmanas saying. “Parents and schools should pay more attention to students’ mental health now, since they have been through a lot in the first half of this year.”
In the capital, rooms have been disinfected, drills have been held, and staff have received nucleic acid tests.Students have been masked, placed in rooms with no more than 20test takers,and overseen by proctors in protective suits and goggles.Despite the summer heat, they will not havecentral air conditioning, due to fears thatventilation systemsmight spread infection.
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Yin Hong-biao, a professor in the department of curriculum and instruction at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, toldVlogthat the emphasis this year would be on “safety first”.
“Considering that this year’s 첹is happening during such an extraordinary time, I understand why mainland China, especially Beijing, has taken extraordinary safety measures for this exam,” Professor Yin said, adding that similar measures were taken for the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education in May. “If other countries want to hold these kinds of exams, I think they have to face similar challenges.”
ճ첹was also going ahead in the face ofrising criticism about its fairness.
In June, there waspublic backlashagainst asingerandprovincialofficial’s son who admitted tosidesteppingthe admissions system in order to get into a top performing arts school.
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After that came a flurry ofinShandong province, somedatingback years.
In July, the Shandong authorities responded to media allegationsthat more than 240 students had theirgao kaotest scores, and chances at university, stolen by imposters in the 2000s.Aprovincial official said that the cases happened beforethere wassufficient identification technology, and that procedures would be reviewed in future.
“Considering thatastudent’s performance inthe첹is still the most important – or even the only – criterion for judging whether he or she can receive higher education,ensuring thatthe exam is seen as fair and equitable is a matter of the utmost importance for the Chinese government,”Professor Yinsaid. “This is why the government has openly addressed concerns about the deceit cases reported recently.”
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