Probing students’ claims does credit to college entrance examination

ON SATURDAY NIGHT, the provincial discipline inspection commission and supervisory commission of Central China’s Henan province released the results of their investigation into claims by four students that their answer sheets in the national college entrance exam (gaokao) might have been exchanged with those for lower points. Beijing News comments:

The provincial discipline inspection commission and supervisory commission not only announced the result of their investigation, which found the answer sheets had not been exchanged, but also released in detail how they conducted the probe.

According to their release, they have watched all the video records starting from the exam rooms to the marking of the exams, talked with the parents of the attendees, the exam monitors, the staff who marked the exams, as well as the staff that were alleged to have done the swap.

With the release of the investigation result and the details of how it was conducted, people’s suspicions of possible corruption in the exam process, which were voiced online, have been dispelled.

However, the attendees and their parents who made the claims should not be vilified. When a student gets a much lower score than expected in the national college entrance exam, it is natural for him or her to wonder whether there is any mistake in the marking process. Every examinee and her or his family have the right to raise their concerns, and they can ask for a review of the exam papers via legal procedures.

Similar incidents have happened in the past, in which the exam authorities conducted the investigations. This time the local supervisory watchdogs intervened, because the parents suggested that the exam authorities might be involved.

Some say this is a waste of public resources and worry more attendees might follow suit. That worry is unnecessary, because the investigation has actually helped the national college entrance exam system regain public trust. Attendees and their parents might be more cautious in challenging the exam results in the future.

The supervision system should welcome all challenges and respect everyone’s legal right to raise doubts. The incident also teaches all supervision commissions nationwide a lesson, namely the more transparent their investigations are, the more public trust they will gain.

According to the statement by the police, the man told the boy to work in the fields but when he arrived home at about 7 pm, he found the boy had not done as he instructed. He then kicked and beat his son with a stick, and did not send him to hospital even though his son was badly wounded. The boy later died at home.

Now the suspect has been detained by the local police and he is expected to face criminal charges. However, a deeper look into the case finds the boy’s death could have been avoided.

The victim’s mother left home about 12 years ago. And the father gave the boy little food, refused to send him to school, ordered him to work in the fields and beat him quite often.

The village officials tried many times to persuade the suspect to treat his son better, but their efforts failed.

Parents are natural guardians of underage youths, but the latter are not their private property. According to the General Provisions of the Civil Law, newly passed by the legislature in 2017, when a guardian seriously harms the physical or mental health of their ward, a local court should deprive the guardian of their right to guardianship, arrange temporary guardianship, and appoint new guardians as necessary.

Parents are no exception to the law. Further, local authorities and social organizations, such as village committees, the civil affairs department of the local government, even the local underage protection associations could all take the parent to court.

So the question is: The local village committee obviously knew the man was mistreating his son, why did it not take the man to court so the boy could be taken into care? The abuse lasted years, where was the local civil affairs department?

We hope village committees and civil affairs departments nationwide will shoulder their child protection responsibilities and prevent any similar tragedies in the future.