Authorities in Jiangxi province announced on Tuesday that they have punished 42 people, including 22 government officials, in connection with cheating in the recent national college entrance examination or gaokao.

In a statement posted on its official website, the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Education said that 12 government officials have been removed from their posts, and three of them have been transferred to judicial authorities for further investigation.

"It is an incident in which fraudulent organizations in other provinces recruited stand-ins online and colluded with government officials to help some college students cheat during the exams," the department said.