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Police crack hi-tech exam cheating ring

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-08-04 14:32

Local police have uncovered a cheating ring during this year’s national college entrance exams in Loudi city of central China's Hunan province, according to Oriental Outlook magazine.

A middle school teacher and several college students who are suspected to be involved in the elaborate stunt, where students used sensors hidden in their mouths to receive exam answers, have been arrested and charged with stealing state secrets. Some college students also believed to be involved are still at large.

Chen Sanqing, the middle school teacher, was the core figure of the cheating ring, insiders told the magazine. Chen bought 100 units of spy-ware devices for cheating purposes and sold them to students at a cost of 20,000 yuan (US$2,926) per unit.

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Two groups of students were organized by the teacher, with one group in charge of working out exam answers and the other with sending the answers via the sensors.

Similar exam cheating scandals are being frequently reported across the country. The make-or-break college entrance exams in China are very competitive, which results in the emerging cheating cases.

According to data from the Ministry of Education, only 60 per cent of exam participants can get access to colleges even after the fast expansion of enrollment over the past decade.