Principal sacked after test cheating

By Jane Chen  |   2009-6-25  |     ONLINE EDITION

THE principal of a prestigious middle school in east China's Jiangsu Province has been removed over a test cheating scandal involving 94 students.

The students stood in for others who had dropped out of school.

The Ganyu County Education Commission said Wang Rui was being removed as the principal of Luoyang Middle School, today's Oriental Morning Post reported.

Another high-ranking school official, who was not named in the report, was also sacked.

The commission's investigation showed that 10 teachers had organized 94 junior-2 students to sit this year's nationwide high school enrollment test early this month for the school's graduating junior-3 students who missed the test because they had dropped out or had poor academic records, said Hu Zhongmin, disciplinary supervising secretary of the Ganyu education commission.

Though Wang did not directly organize the cheating, he had demanded teachers ensure a high attendance of students at the test, which had resulted in cheating, Hu said.

Wang did not stop the cheating after learning about it, Hu added.

"I meant to push the teachers to find those dropout students," Wang said. "But I didn't expect the teachers would get senior-2 students sit for the test for the dropouts."

Wang set the attendance rate after the Jiangsu education authority had asked local middle schools to cut down on dropouts, he told the Shanghai-based newspaper earlier.

The Jiangsu education commission issued a statement in July 2007, urging primary and middle schools to reduce student dropouts to zero.

The goal was achieved in most of the province, according to commission official Lu Zhiping.

Luo Yang Middle School was named a model middle school in 2003.