Honesty still best policy when it comes to exams

A teacher at a college entrance examination venue in Chongqing holds an electronic device yesterday that can detect wireless signals, and thus trace text messages sent to examinees' mobile phones. The device is expected to deter students from cheating.Xinhua

Electronic monitoring devices, mobile phone detectors and giant screens connected to close-circuit TV cameras. Does it sound like a high security operation? Well, the National College Entrance Examination (NCEE) in China is nothing less than that.

The media is full of stories about examinees, their parents, the troubles they are facing and the elaborate arrangements the authorities have made to ensure a hassle-free exam.

But amid all this, the education authorities' efforts to prevent cheating at the exam have gone almost unnoticed. The authorities launched the country's new monitoring system for the all-important exam yesterday. The system is based on local schools' networks and is connected to provincial headquarters, especially set up for the exam, Xinhua quoted the National Education Examination Authority (NEEA) Director Dai Jiagan as saying.