China vows 'zero tolerance' on NCEE cheating

Xinhua, June 4, 2011

The National College Entrance Examination (NCEE), or "gaokao," is the world's largest standardized test, taken by millions of Chinese students every year. However, a string of cheating scandals featuring the use of high-tech devices have cast a shadow over the test.

Wireless communication devices are used by some students to obtain answers from people outside of the examination venues.

In 2009, teachers in Jilin's city of Songyuan were found to be selling wireless devices to students, which sparked intense public outrage.

Public security authorities in Jilin and Gansu provinces have also begun intensifying identification checks of people living in hotels and rented homes near exam venues as they search for people running cheating-related businesses.

About 9.33 million students have registered to take the exam on June 7 and 8 this year, a slight decrease from the 9.57 million last year, figures from the Ministry of Education show.

More than 72.3 percent of these students will be accepted into college, an increase of 4 percentage points over last year.

About 0.02 percent of the students taking last year's college entrance exam were found to have cheated, according to figures from the ministry.

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