China tightens security for Gaokao
BEIJING - In light of the recent school attacks, China has tightenedsecurity [siˈkjuəriti] for the college entrance examination which begins on Monday.
"All the relevant [ˈreləvənt] departments and local governments are fully prepared to respond to emergencies during the exam," said Liu Junyi, vice-director of the exam center under the Ministry of Education, on Sunday.
In Beijing, police, security guards and volunteers will work together to guard the exam venues.
In Henan and Anhui provinces, emergency-responses have been prepared in case of disorder due to bad weather, serious cheating behavior, food poisoning, or traffic accidents.
Because of the recent slew [slu:] of attacks against students, boarding school teachers in south China' s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region are required to walk students from their schools to the exam venues.
"The college entrance exam is a matter of great importance that demands joint efforts of relevant departments," Liu said.
In Chongqing municipality, public security departments have inspected students' living areas around exam venues to ensure their safety.
In Hubei province, relevant departments have completed a rehearsal [riˈhə:səl] using exam paper B in case that students are found cheating using exam paper A.
In Jilin, an anti-cheating campaign has seized over 4,000 cheating device sets.
"We have organized a dozen expert teams, who are ready to handle nationwide emergencies and incidents," Liu said.
In quake-hit Yushu of Qinghai Province, experts from the Ministry of Education have arrived to help hold the exam.
A total of 9.57 million people have registered to sit for the exam this year. More than 68 percent of them will go into college. There are a total of 320,000 exam venues around the country.
