China's Ministry of Education yesterday took a critical step in its initiative to reform the college entrance exam system, aiming to reverse exam-oriented education to help fuel future growth.

According to the ministry, university entrance will no longer be solely determined by scores in the national college entrance exam, or gaokao.

Students will also be evaluated on their morality standards, physical health, art cultivation and social practice. Volunteer activities, for example, will result in merits.

Previously, only a small fraction of students were awarded extra gaokao credits, mainly for success in academic competitions.

The current trend is that most students undertake a fixed, universal diet of exam subjects in either the sciences or arts.

In the future, students will be allowed to submit the scores of three subjects from a pool of six — biology, chemistry, geography, history, physics and politics — together with their mandatory Chinese, math and English scores.

“The new regulation will help students take advantage of their strengths and overcome their shortcomings,” said Zhou Bin, a schoolmaster from Haining in east China’s Zhejiang Province, adding that often students paid too much attention to their weaknesses.

China resumed the gaokao system in 1977. Since then, the exam has been called a “single-plank bridge” because of the wide gap between applicants and admissions.

But in recent years, the exam has attracted criticism for its suffocation of students’ innovative spirit, leading to serious brain drain.

“We need to transform our education system to one for the people, to better cultivate our students,” said Zhou Bin.

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)