High technology tightens gaokao anti-cheating measures

A student goes through a metal detector in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province. [Photo/IC]

High-tech measures, such as face recognition and fingerprint verification systems, will be used for the first time in many places for this year's gaokao, or national college entrance exam, which will start within a fortnight, China News Service reported on Wednesday.

Many cheating cases have occurred across the country during the gaokao, an important exam that determines many students' fates. China has listed cheating in the exam as a criminal act in its newly amended Criminal Law effective from Nov 1 last year.

To ensure no cheating occurs this year, provincial authorities of Guangdong and Hubei plans to make use of high technology. Aside from face recognition and fingerprint verification systems, metal detectors and electronic monitoring systems will also be used.

Candidates in Hainan province are required to be checked twice by the hand-held metal monitors under the video surveillance system before they come back to the test room from the toilet during the exam.

Watches are forbidden in the exam rooms in provinces like Fujian, Anhui and Hubei. Instead, silent clocks will be available for students to check the time in every test room.

The education authorities will also make use of technology to secure the safety of the gaokao test papers. The places where the test papers are stored will have at least two cameras installed for surveillance.

Vehicles used for transporting the test papers will be equipped with video surveillance systems and GPS, GPRS and RFID devices for positioning and monitoring the vehicles during transportation, the Ministry of Education said in April.

Apart from the technology-aided measures, many places have also strengthened the teams of test supervisors. Many provincial education authorities reiterated that lessons should be drawn from last year's case of an arranged gang of fake candidates taking exams in Jiangxi. The police in many provinces have expressed they will have zero tolerance for such practices this year.