New system erases duplicate enrollments, fake student records

China launched an upgraded national system for managing school student information on Monday, aiming to eliminate issues like duplicate registrations and "ghost" student records, which have frequently sparked public outcry in recent years.

The controversies often arise when media reports reveal cases of students holding multiple school registrations or being enrolled without actually attending classes. One recent high-profile case involved reports of "empty registration" practices by Nashi, an actress from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, drawing widespread attention on social media and prompting calls for tighter oversight.

According to an official notice from the education authorities of Inner Mongolia in June 2025, Nashi was accused of fabricating her college entrance exam application in 2008 by using a false identity as a student from Hohhot No 8 Middle School, without actually attending or having a student record at the school.

The revamped platform, deployed uniformly by the Ministry of Education, operates across five levels: national, provincial, municipal, county (district) and individual schools. It integrates core processes — including enrollment, transfers, graduation and academic progression — into a unified online service designed to improve efficiency, accuracy and security.

The ministry said the upgraded platform has stronger validation of student identities through integration with the national population database, helping eliminate duplicate or false student records.

The platform is also equipped with better data application for educational management, such as monitoring student attendance, allocating subsidies, and supporting cross-sector initiatives like family tax deductions and anti-trafficking efforts, it said.

The upgrade supports the ministry's push toward digital transformation in education and aims to provide a more reliable foundation for policy implementation, resource allocation, and equitable service delivery in schools nationwide, the ministry added.