Students sitting the National College Entrance Exam are likely to see cell
phone signals blocked inside exam sites this year to prevent cheating.
While education authorities said they would use modern technology to tighten
management of exam sites, the new regulation didn't bother the majority of local
exam takers.
"All of us were warned to switch off our cell phones during the exam," said
Zhou Wenjia, a third-year high school student. "Most students won't risk
breaching the regulation. It's not worthwhile."
The new regulation, which was issued by the Ministry of Education, suggested
cities - especially those with a track record of cheating scandals - equip exam
sites with cell phone signal shielding facilities.
It means handsets won't work even if students have their phones on during the
exam.
"The city will follow the Ministry of Education's instruction," said Wang
Xin, a publicity official with the Shanghai Education Commission. "But exam site
management details have yet to be worked out."
Previously, students were only asked to switch off cell phones, rather than
hand phones during the exam. However, people could switch their phones to
vibration mode.
In June, 18 students in Guizhou Province were disqualified from the exam
after they attempted to seek help from teachers by sending exam questions via
short message.
A popular measure that exam organizers take is to install a microelectronics
wave detector. An alarm sounds if a cell phone is found working in the
classroom.
Officials said it is impractical to simply ban handsets from exam rooms as
students can hide them in many places or use other devices.