Thousands of Beijing students to sit gaokao under heavy police guard
Anti-terror measures also apply to weekend national entrance test, which 70,000 students are set to take in the capital alone
For the first time in the exam’s more than 30-year history, the gaokao tests in Beijing will be conducted under heavy guard this weekend, with gun-toting anti-terror police on patrol and the exam papers to be delivered by armoured cars.
The extra security for some 70,000 students sitting the exams in Beijing is part of the central government’s counter-terrorism operations, launched in the wake of bombing attacks elsewhere on the mainland.
They will sit the two-day exams, which last from morning to afternoon, at more than 100 testing centres, according to The Beijing News.
China’s university entrance test has been administered since 1955, but was interrupted during the Cultural Revolution. The test was relaunched in its current form in 1977.
In Beijing’s Xicheng district, police will station an armoured vehicle, carrying guns and anti-riot equipment, to each of 19 testing centres.
Seven “armed police vehicles” will be responsible for delivering the test papers in Fengtai district. Afterwards, the cars will be on patrol.
