Nearly 13 million Chinese high school students begin the baccalaureate examination marathon on Wednesday, the most stressful event of their school life and the first to be organized since the lifting of anti-Covid restrictions.
More than just a baccalaureate, the “gaokao” (“recruitment examination for higher education establishments”) leads to a total of points which then determines in which university – prestigious or not – and which specialty the candidate can study.
“For the past four years, I got up at four in the morning every day to study, except Sundays,” said Jesse Rao, a high school student from the metropolis of Shenzhen (southern China).
“I did everything I could, but I’m still a little stressed.”
The gaokao, whose format is sometimes slightly different depending on the province, includes tests in Chinese, English, mathematics, geography, history, chemistry, physics, English and even politics.
Many parents spend the equivalent of thousands of euros to enroll their children, from an early age, in private lessons in order to maximize their chances of success against other candidates at the time of the exam.
This year’s contestants spent most of their high school years under restrictions imposed against the Covid-19 pandemic which were finally lifted in December.
“I had a hard time taking online classes last year,” said Katherina Wang, a high school student from Shanghai (east China) who has suffered two confinements in the past two years.
“But our teachers arranged extra classes for us in the evenings and on weekends and helped us catch up!”
The issue leads each year candidates to be fraudulently replaced by university students at the examination table, or to take with them electronic terminals to communicate with people outside.
To prevent any cheating, several provinces have installed facial recognition scanners to ensure that candidates do not have to be replaced and do not take any mobile phones, headphones or even connected watches.
The gaokao lasts up to four days depending on the province, with events lasting from 60 to 150 minutes.
The maximum score is 750, with a score above 600 usually required to enter the most prestigious universities in the country.
07/06/2023 05:28:49 – Beijing (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
