▲ Students studying to take the gaokao
A massive cheating scandal discovered during a public sector recruitment process in China has forced more than 140,000 applicants to retake their exams.
According to state-run media outlets including Xinhua News Agency on the 9th, the Human Resources and Social Security Department of Henan Province recently announced that a large-scale, organized cheating ring was uncovered in the written examination for the "Sanzhi Yifu" program, a rural support initiative.
Consequently, authorities invalidated all scores from the exam and decided to hold a new written test on the 22nd.
The "Sanzhi Yifu" program sends university graduates to rural areas to take on duties such as education, agriculture, and medical services.
This year's recruitment quota in Henan Province was 3,082, but it is reported that more than 140,000 people applied.
Some applicants who had been preparing for interviews are expressing frustration, noting that even test-takers who were not involved in the cheating must retake the exam.
In Guangdong Province, suspicions of preferential treatment surrounding teacher recruitment have also emerged.
Recent investigations revealed that a vice principal at a school in Leizhou leaked the personal information of the candidate who ranked first in the written exam and coerced that person into forfeiting subsequent tests, including the interview, in order to pass the second-place applicant.
On the same day, suspicions regarding the fairness of the teacher recruitment process were also raised in Foshan, Guangdong Province.
After reports surfaced that high-ranking scorers in the written test were repeatedly eliminated or failed to show up for interviews while numerous lower-ranking applicants passed in bulk, education authorities suspended the recruitment process and launched an investigation.
Analysts suggest that the successive recruitment controversies in China's public sector are tied to the increasingly severe youth employment crisis.
This year, the number of university graduates in China reached a record high of 12.7 million.
With unemployed graduates from previous years and returning overseas students adding to the pool, job competition is expected to become even fiercer.
In particular, as the preference for stable civil servant positions becomes more pronounced, about 3.7 million people—a record high—applied for the national civil servant exam held late last year, resulting in an average competition rate of 97 to 1.
Chu Chaochui, a researcher at the Chinese National Academy of Educational Sciences, pointed out, "The lax recruitment management of some institutions is creating a 'gray zone of power.' To reduce similar controversies, the entire process from recruitment announcements and written exams to interviews and final selections must be operated openly and transparently."
(Photo: Getty Images)
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