Widening social gap

While poverty and seclusion have forced at least 10,000 students in Chongqing to quit this year's matriculation at the last moment, some of their city peers are hoping to enter top schools in the United States.

A two-hour bus ride away from Luo's village, the half-empty classrooms of the city's best senior high school, Bashu Secondary School, seem to challenge the authority of the country's top test, which, for many, is the test of their lives.

"Twenty-nine students in my class have been admitted to American schools," said English teacher Yu Ying. "They have quit school and are applying for visas."

The municipal education department said at least 300 graduates from Chongqing's public schools alone have quit the college admission test in order to study abroad.

The same brain drain has been reported at some schools in Beijing. At New Channel, a privately-run English training center, at least 30 students from Beijing's best senior high schools are preparing for the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT), hoping to enter an American university.

Most of them get financial and spiritual support from their parents, often well-educated government employees, professors or business executives, some of whom studied abroad themselves.

Unlike Luo Yan, these students have quit the test in a most cheerful way.

Incomplete statistics provided by Beijing's education authorityshowed at least 3,000 middle school graduates were admitted to American universities last year.

The Ministry of Education confirmed on Tuesday the number of candidates for this year's matriculation was down by 3.8 percent, the first drop in seven years.

It said the drop as a good omen for the 10.2 million candidates, who would be competing for 6.29 million seats -- four percent more than last year.

It insisted the drop in the number of candidates was because "there were fewer people of this age group," not because of the slim job market. But college graduates are apparently having a hard time finding jobs this year, with 6.11 million new graduates this year and 1 million from last year still unemployed, accordingto the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

The education ministry said 7.5 million of this year's middle school graduates will be sitting for the matriculation. It didn't say, however, why the remaining 840,000 graduates quit.

The brain drain and the widening social gap behind it are apparent to the insiders -- students and parents in particular, who have repeatedly called for reforms.

Though many people still believe the college admission test is the only Chinese testing system that brooks no fraud or power abuse, a string of scandals about cheating, leaking exam papers oreven buying into universities have revealed a credibility crisis.

In a recently exposed scandal, a police officer in central China's Hunan Province was found to have stolen another girl's exam results and passed it off as his daughter's to secure her a place in college five years ago.

Meanwhile, an honor roll of candidates who will be rewarded 20 points each for taking part in local aeromodelling or radio communication contests in the eastern Zhejiang Province also sparked an outcry for more fairness, as all the 13 students on the golden list were from rich and powerful families.