Shanghai postpones college entrance exam over COVID-19
Students take part in the college entrance exam amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
The college entrance exam, known as gaokao, will be postponed for a month because of the COVID-19 resurgence, Shanghai Vice Mayor Chen Qun said on Saturday.
More than 50,000 local students will take part in the annual exam, which is seen as a milestone in their life trajectory, between July 7 and 9. It is normally held between June 7 and 9.
The senior high school entrance examination with 110,000 local examinees will also be delayed by a month to July 11 and 12. The physics and chemistry experiments tests and English listening and speaking tests will be canceled due to pandemic prevention difficulties.
"The postponement aims to spare some time for the examinees to study at school, rather than attend the exams from home directly," Chen told the city's daily COVID-19 press briefing.
He said local headmasters and teachers have agreed a period of studies at school can help the examinees consolidate their studies, calm down, and become accustomed to the exam environment.
The city will offer more help to examinees who were infected with COVID-19 or underwent central quarantines, along with those whose parents are taking part in the anti-COVID-19 fight, or who have poor study conditions, Chen said.
Emergency exam sites will be set up to meet the requirements of COVID-19 prevention and control. Emergency responses to bad weather which is more likely due to the postponement will be put in place.
Last year, the college entrance examination took place as scheduled.
Quarantine exam sites
Central quarantine exam sites will be set up for students who are still under quarantine or with abnormal nucleic acid results, said Wang Ping, director of Shanghai Education Commission.
The timetable for the reopening of local schools will be publicized later after "cautious arrangement" according to the city's COVID-19 situation, the vice mayor said.
Details of the adjustments of enrollments of local kindergartens and schools will be released later this month. Additional time will be spared for parents and students to make applications, he added.
Some 1.56 million students of local kindergartens, elementary and secondary schools have been shifted to online classes at home since March 12.
The city's 64 universities and colleges along with 50 vocational schools have also initiated closed-loop management for nearly two months due to the resurgence.
The overall operation has been going steadily, but conditions and scattered resurgences have occurred at some enclosed campuses, resulting in tough times for students and teachers, Chen said.
"Students at the most energetic and vigorous ages have to stay at home or school for COVID-19 prevention and control, but they have overcome difficulties to keep studying and even take part in voluntary services," he noted.
The vice mayor said the city will also release some measures to support job hunting by 227,000 local graduates, the largest number in the last five years, who are under great pressure due to the pandemic.
Shanghai's city- and district-level state-owned enterprises will open at least half of their posts to recruit local university graduates. The districts as well as subdistricts and towns will also recruit more civil servants from local new graduates, according to the vice mayor.
Local students in 2020
