Authority warns off fraud as 2.8 million Chinese sit for college enrollment exam

China's education authority warned students against cheating as a national college entrance exam kicked off on Saturday, with an attendance of 2.81 million.

"To ensure a fair, satisfactory exam, education officials at all level should strengthen surveillance against exam frauds, with a focus to crack down on group cheating and cheating with modern communication means," said a notice released from the Ministry of Education.

No lenience would be given to those who were found cheating in the two-day exam, the ministry said.

The self-study college entrance exam, being held in every October, is a supplementary form of the more competitive national college entrance exam that in every June channels millions of high school graduates of the year into college.

The October exam, or called adults college entrance examination, gives young people who did not take or failed in the exam upon their graduation another chance to university study.

Academic success has been considered a pride in most Chinese families and university degree seems to have become a must for young people seeking a better life in China's increasingly competitive society.

In recent years, a growing number of students have been found cheating in exams. In this June's national exam, about 3,000 fraudulent students were found, increasing by 1,300 compared with last year's exam.

Source: Xinhua