Exam in flu shadow

After a rise in the number of A/H1N1 flu cases, China's education authorities laid out a national prevention plan to ensure the virus did not disrupt the annual exam.

Dai Jiagan, director of the National Educational Examination Administration, said on Wednesday that the plan covered exam preparation, implementation and emergency response.

"We have based the plan on our experience of handling SARS in 2003," he said. "The exam must be safe and fair, and the government has the duty to protect its security."

Each exam room is disinfected twice a day and every examinee is required to have their body temperature measured before entering the rooms.

"I guess it will make me a little more nervous because I'm used to having my temperature measured only in hospital," said Li Hui before entering the exam center in Guangzhou. "But I totally understand it."

Separate exam rooms have been prepared for the exam takers showing flu and fever symptoms. As of Sunday morning, no such rooms had been used.

Beating the cheats

However, the biggest fear for examinees and their parents is cheating.

China's media have uncovered a series of cheating scams, ranging from identity theft to the use of high-tech communications equipment.

Advertisements on the Internet offering purported test answers or devices to help obtain answers can be easily found.

"It is the most unfair thing in the world for a student who has devoted 12 years to preparing for the exam to be beaten by those using illegal methods," said Li Xiang, a father sitting outside a test center in the eastern Jiangsu Province.

The Ministry of Public Security has urged police to be on high alert for any cheating and the Ministry of Education has reiterated its warning to examinees and their parents avoid being tricked by offers of supposed answers or advice from people claiming to know what is on the test.

"The exams must be absolutely fair," said Dai Jiagan.

"If my son fails the exam, I want him to fail fair and square," said Li Xiang. "What I can do is pray that my son is not the victim of test cheating."

(Xinhua News Agency June 7, 2009)