Pupils sit test again after leak

By Li Xinran  |   2008-7-3  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

MORE than 12,000 junior middle school graduates in northeast China's Liaoning Province had to sit two of their high school entrance tests again on Monday, because of test paper leak, according to a news report yesterday.

Questions and answers from all the four papers were leaked before the test, said Song Guochun, spokesman and vice director of the education bureau of Anshan City.

The entrance exam was held on Saturday and Sunday. Local educational authorities received the leak report after the Chinese language test on Saturday morning, Xinhua news agency said.

Many students and parents in Anshan rushed to printing stores nearby to copy leaked test papers at noon break as some of them found questions and answers on a manuscript were the same as those on the test papers.

The Anshan government decided to scrap the completed Chinese language and science tests on Saturday night after checking the questions and answers on both the manuscript and test papers.

The mathematics and English tests the next day adopted backup papers.

Students at the city's four downtown districts were asked to take the Chinese literature and science tests again.

The city's suburban areas had adopted another set of papers and weren't affected by the leak, the report said.

A set of four test papers reportedly was sold at 2,500 yuan (US$364) to 5,000 yuan before the exam.

Some students had memorized the answers and completed their papers minutes after receiving them, according to the report.

Local police are investigating the incident.

The Anshan educational bureau was reported to have taken strict security measures to protect test papers from June 26. All the papers were under armed guards 24 hours a day, according to The Beijing News, and security cameras were being used.

Local authorities denied an earlier rumor that the educational bureau chief had been detained by police.