Ministry warns of harsh penalties for ‘gaokao’ fraud

Any students who cheat or are involved in identity theft in the national college entrance exam, or gaokao, will be disqualified from enrolling in universities and colleges, says the Education Ministry.

The ministry said in a notice issued on Thursday it would work with public security and disciplinary authorities to look into any fraud in the exam and hold those guilty of violations and any people who assist them accountable.

Universities should conduct identity checks of high school graduates to find students who stole others’ identities or gained extra gaokao points through illegal means, it said.

This year’s exam has been delayed for a month due to the Covid-19 pandemic and will be held nationwide from July 7 to 8.

The gaokao is a make-or-break exam for millions of students as the highly competitive and intensive test remains the single criteria to determine which colleges students can attend, which in turn significantly affects their future job prospects, especially for those from rural areas.

A record 10.71 million students have signed up to participate in this year’s gaokao, up by 400,000 from last year.

The Shandong Provincial Discipline Inspection Commission said on Monday that 46 people had been punished for involvement in two cases of imposture.

In one case that triggered widespread criticism online, a 36-yearold woman named Chen Chunxiu, from Liaocheng, Shandong, scored 546 out of 750 in the 2004 exam.

But her score was stolen by Chen Yanping, also from Liaocheng, who had scored 303 the same year. Her father, a businessman, and her uncle, a local official, used their connections to facilitate the fraud.

By stealing Chunxiu’s identity and gaokao score, Yanping was able to enrol at Shandong University of Technology. After graduating in 2007, she found a job as a community worker.

Chunxiu was not enrolled by any university and became a migrant worker for years. She now works as a kindergarten teacher.

The impostor’s university diploma has been revoked and she was fired from her job. —