Cut interest chain behind exam scams

While moral decline leads to open cheating when it comes to bonus marks in the gaokao, or national college entrance exams, lack of legal punishment deepens the problem by freeing those involved from fear of paying a price. Related officials, schools, teachers, students and their families have already formed an interest chain and that's worse than the scandal itself.

Wu Ni, National Institute of Education Sciences, People's Daily, July 15

Some may advise canceling all the gaokao bonus programs, but by doing that China is avoiding, not solving, the problems. Actually, the fact that corruption gets uncovered is a sign of social progress, and we expect the public to continue supervising the exams until the problems are solved. Those involved in the abuse of the bonus points system must be punished, so officials in other provinces learn the necessary lesson.

Global Times (Chinese edition), July 15,

Cheating to get bonus points for the gaokao is corruption that involves multiple fields and hurts students' legal rights and social justice. Merely reforming the gaokao or investigations by the education departments are insufficient to curb the corruption, and judicial departments need to intervene and punish those who abuse power.

Du Xiao, Legal Daily, July 13

Scandals about the gaokao bonus points emerge almost every year. Why not abolish all bonus programs for athletes and other competitions, where corruption is easy and rampant? Preferential policy for minority groups and economically backward provinces might be necessary, but that should be decided by the colleges, not the authorities, to avoid power breeding corruption.

Luo Hongqi, cjn.com, July 14

A lasting solution to the abuse of bonus points is impossible without reforming the current college entrance exam system, in which education authorities have too big a say. Only when the colleges, instead of officials, decide which students to admit, can corruption be avoided.

Xiong Bingqi, 21st Century Education Research Institute, chinanews.com, July 4