No! China’s Gaokao is not leak proof, thousands punished for cheating every year

Following the NEET paper leak, the focus has been on China’s National College Entrance Exam called Gaokao, with many in India lauding it as leak-proof after amendments made to criminalise cheating and enhance punishment for those involved in cheating. However, data released by China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) in June 2024 showed that it has not stopped people from trying to cheat in the exam. Thousands get punished each year for trying to cheat in the exam.

From November 2015 to April 2024, over 11,000 people faced penalties for organising cheating, selling test answers, or taking exams for others, according to data released by the SPC showing a crackdown on cheating since the 2015 amendments to treat cheating as a criminal offence. The court highlighted the growing sophistication of cheating schemes, facilitated by advancements in communication technology. It also gave details of five cases where individuals received punishments for cheating including a teacher who was sentenced to four years in prison for organising a cheating ring in the 2020 Gaokao.

Individuals who organise cheating, or leak test questions or answers or sell wireless devices can face three to seven years in prison, which is the same quantum of punishment as in the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act of 2024, brought in to curb such paper leaks, and organised malpractices in India. Even minor cheating can lead to jail time in China. Students could face a ban from taking any state education exam for one to three years, and violations are recorded in individuals’ personal files making it almost impossible to secure employment in public institutions or government jobs.

The exam is said to be conducted with ‘military grade security’ which includes the papers being printed in high security presses, police patrol deployed at all testing centres, high-tech surveillance such as facial recognition and drone surveillance to detect devices and fake fingerprints and online surveillance to track marketing of cheating devices and test banks.

Despite all these measures and a stringent criminal law with enhanced punishment in place from 2015/16, the intense pressure to score high in Gaokao continues to drive parents and students to find ways to cheat. Every year cases are filed, and people are sent to prison for varying lengths of time.

Some educationists have suggested reforming the admission system so that so much is not riding on a single entrance exam and making Gaokao just one part of the college entrance examination or process to reduce the incentive to cheat rather than focusing only on security and punishment.

Most gatekeeping or selection exams taken by large numbers of people have had and continue to have people trying to cheat in the exam. The authorities organising such exams continue to upgrade security for these exams and people continue to find ways to cheat despite such measures. For instance, the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is held by the Education Testing Services of the US, a company with immense experience in holding exams across 180 countries. Yet GRE has been compromised on multiple occasions with cheating instances ranging from impersonation to large-scale test centre breaches. This is despite those caught stealing facing serious consequences ranging from academic expulsion and forfeited fees to visa cancellation.

What makes India unique is the poor level of investigation and prosecution of such cheating cases. Once a cheating incidence fades from news headlines, most of the accused or those arrested go scot-free or at least don’t face the consequences within a reasonable timeframe. An egregious example is the way the alleged mastermind in the 2024 NEET leak case was granted default bail as the CBI failed to file the chargesheet against him within the stipulated 90-day period. While exam leaks happen in other countries too, it is doubtful if any of them has as abysmal a record as India when it comes to prosecution.