CANCELLED EXAMS DEAL STUDENTS A HEAVY BLOW

Eight host cities, including major test hubs Shanghai and Beijing, affected by decision of the College Board, an American non-profit group

The effective cancellation of Advanced Placement (AP) Exams in several mainland cities over coronavirus restrictions has dealt a heavy blow both to students applying to overseas universities and an international education sector already grappling with a widespread crackdown.

The announcement from the College Board, an American nonprofit organisation that administers the AP Exams for post-secondary education in the US, means this year’s test in eight mainland cities – including Beijing and Shanghai – will not be held due to Covid-19 curbs.

“Widespread Covid restrictions will prevent some locations from testing in May, and we are not able to provide make-up options beyond May given the scale and uncertainty of the situation in China,” the organisation said in a statement last week.

The mainland’s private education sector has boomed in the past decade on strong demand from middle-class families.

However, private bilingual schools have in recent years been hit by a slew of reforms, with education authorities requiring students to use Chinese textbooks adopted by public schools, and to take compulsory exams – known as the zhong kao – for admission to public senior high school.

Thousands of mainland students sit the AP Exams annually, mostly 11th-graders hoping to improve their chances of attending college in the West.

This year’s AP Exams, in the form of “paper and pencil” tests, were scheduled to take place over a two-week period this month, from May 2 to 6 and again from May 9 to 13. However, they have been cancelled in eight out of 26 mainland host cities, notably Shanghai and Beijing, the cities with most students taking international courses.

Also affected will be Suzhou near Shanghai, Changchun and Harbin in the north, Nanchang and Nantong in the east, and the central city of Zhengzhou; all have battled outbreaks in recent weeks.

The board previously offered an online option in response to worldwide school closures amid the pandemic but said it was a temporary solution. With the return of in-person learning for most of the world this year, AP Exams returned to their usual written administration model.

“We regret the impact that this decision may have on students who have worked hard all year to prepare for this opportunity,” the College Board said, recommending that affected students take an exam next year.

This comes as China sticks with its strict “dynamic zero Covid” policy, relying on mass testing, quarantine and lockdowns to contain virus transmissions In Shanghai, a city of 25 million undergoing the country’s latest Omicron-driven wave, most residents have been under lockdown since early April. Total cases have crossed 600,000 since the outbreak began on March 1.

In Beijing, the municipal government has shut down public venues and suspended schooling as the total infection tally since April 22 crossed 800.

“The cancellation of AP Exams is a big blow to Chinese students, who spend years preparing for the test,” said Miki Zhou, an international education consultant in Beijing. “Parents are expected to become more cautious in choosing international curriculums for their children in the future.”

The AP cancellation follows the suspension of all exams in May by the International Baccalaureate, a Geneva-based international education programme provider, for students in Shanghai, and the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui.

A source with a bilingual school in Beijing, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the business environment had “changed significantly” over the past couple of years, as schools are deprived of the right to select students from applicants or use unapproved foreign textbooks.

Bilingual schools were earlier able to choose from among admission hopefuls. However, as of last year, they have been included in an area-wise computer-based allocation system run by the education authorities.

The pandemic has only worsened the situation. International schools across China may “not survive” the loss of teachers resulting from measures such as lockdowns that are driving away foreign talent, the British Chamber of Commerce in China warned.

“If international exams are not going to be held in China, it would be a heavy blow to the whole sector,” the source cautioned.

We regret the impact that this decision may have on students who have worked hard all year COLLEGE BOARD STATEMENT