Nearly 11m students to sit China's college entrance exam in July: ministry
Students prepare for the college entrance exam in a high school in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, on June 9, 2020.
A total of 10.71 million students will sit this year's national college entrance exam in China on July 7 and 8, an increase of 400,000 over last year, the Ministry of Education said on Friday.
Over 7,000 exam sites will be set up across the country, including around 400,000 exam rooms, and 945,000 people will work as invigilators or service providers.
Wang Hui, an official with the ministry, said the exam will be the largest organized event in the country since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, at a press conference.
The exam, also known as the gaokao, is deemed the most important event for Chinese students. It is hailed as a fair system to select talent and change the fate of children from poor families.
This year's gaokao will see strict anti-epidemic measures at the exam sites including requiring students and invigilators to wear face masks and preparing isolation rooms for those with suspicious symptoms.
He Qinghua, an official with the National Health Commission, said at a press conference held by the Ministry of Education Friday that all relevant personnel should get their temperatures checked and wear face masks before entering the exam sites.
After entering the exam rooms, students from areas with low infection risks can decide whether to wear masks while those from medium- and high-risk areas and all invigilators and staff need to wear masks for the duration of the exams, the official said.
Special isolation rooms will be set up at each exam site, and students found to have high temperatures or respiratory ailments will first undergo a health evaluation conducted by professional personnel to decide if they are fit enough to take the gaokao. If they pass the evaluation, they can use the isolation rooms to take their exams, He said.
Invigilators at these isolation rooms will need to wear protective suits if necessary, the official added.
The gaokao for this year has been postponed by one month to July due to the novel coronavirus disease epidemic.
