Chinese police have detained 34 suspects in the northeastern city of Songyuan for allegedly selling hi-tech devices to students to help them cheat in the country's make-or-break college entrance exam held from June 7 to 9.

The suspects were involved in 14 cases and police also confiscated 683 devices, such as receivers and earpieces, said Lai Jianhua, deputy secretary-general of the Songyuan municipal government in Jilin Province, on Friday.

"The city authorities are working with the Education Ministry and the provincial authorities to further investigate the cases," he said.

Songyuan has been in the spotlight for a series of exam cheating scandals this year.

The suspects included two female high school teachers from the No. 1 High School of the city's Fuyu County. They were charged with selling 27 cheating devices, including receivers, earpieces, chargers and batteries, to parents of students before the national test and made a profit of about 400,000 yuan (US$58,823.5), police said.

According to Chinese criminal law, the two teachers might face jail for up to three years if convicted of selling the devices, police said.

In a country where a college diploma can help secure a decent job, the annual college entrance exam is considered decisive in determining a student's future career opportunities.

More than 10 million Chinese high school students sat the three-day exam, commonly known as "gaokao" in the country, this year.

Although the number of candidates was down 3.8 percent from last year, the first decline in seven years, the exam was still the world's largest in terms of number of entrants.

(Xinhua News Agency June 13, 2009)