Extra exams hurt education fairness

A student from a primary school in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, practices for the aoshu, or math Olympiad, during a class in July 2014.[Photo/Xinhua]

HIGH SCHOOLS AND PRIMARY SCHOOLS, be they public or private, have reportedly been conducting unauthorized tests, most of which are about the Mathematical Olympiad, to select "qualified" applicants. Such a selective admission approach violates China's compulsory education policy that upholds indiscriminate recruitment, said Changjiang Daily on Wednesday:

It is a semi-open secret that many pre-college schools use third-party education agencies or conduct their own tests to clandestinely recruit young applicants. These tests are off the record and often cover subjects beyond the grasp of average students.

Such extra, selective tests are banned in compulsory education, which instead aims to ensure students automatically go to schools in their neighborhood. The implementation of the ban, however, has been porous, failing to stop top middle and elementary schools from arranging these so-called comprehensive capability tests.

Enjoying the best educational resources from teachers to facilities, leading schools tend to be very "picky" when it comes to recruitment, and students have to go to great lengths to be admitted. In many cases the schools are willing to take the risk of infringing upon the principle of educational fairness in exchange for enrolling the best students.

The imbalance in the distribution of educational resources means many parents are willing to let their children sit the extra tests in the hope they will do well and be enrolled in the best schools as a springboard for their futures.

Why local education authorities choose to turn a blind eye to the "secret tests", despite being aware of them, is a question worth asking.

But the persistence of the extra tests warrants intervention by the Education Ministry. Loopholes such as the "comprehensive capability tests", which many private schools have used as a convenient excuse for their selective recruitment, must be plugged for good.

However, the permanent solution is fairer distribution of high-quality education resources.