The Ministry of Education said on Wednesday that it supports Chongqing's decision of not publicizing the names of the students who faked their ethnic identities for extra marks in last month's national college entrance examination.

The ministry claimed that such a practice was only meant to protect the minors.

“It is good to protect the identities of the minor students,” the ministry said.

Thirty-one students were found faking their ethnic identities in the exam for 20 extra marks in southwest China’s Chongqing municipality. All of them have been disqualified for enrollment in any university this year.

Media have repeatedly demanded the office in charge of college admissions to make the names of the cheats public.

A total of 15 officials in Chongqing have been punished for falsifying the ethnicity of the 31 students. Some of the officials are parents of the students, Xinhua News Agency reported early Wednesday.

Beijing Youth Daily, a local newspaper in China’s capital, reported earlier it had uncovered the names of 24 of the 31 students.

(Chinadaily,.com.cn July 8, 2009)