In June 2016, 9.4 million Chinese students who took the two-day college entrance examination, or gaokao, had to go through several checkpoints such as facial recognition, metal detector and fingerprint verification.
However, a school in Anhui Province found a very simple way to minimize, if not eliminate cheating at school exams by just using newspapers, Carbonated.TV reported. Peeking at a seatmate’s test paper is no longer possible by using newspaper hats.
Another Use for Newspapers
The hats are made by teachers who cut out the skull-sized hats and make the students wear them while taking the exam. The simple anti-cheating method is both 100 percent unique and effective, according to teachers who devised the method because of difficulty in managing a class of 40 to 50 students.
The anti-cheating method works two ways by preventing students from peeking at the test paper of his or her seatmate and from a student also peeking at the exam paper of his or her seatmate, Indianexpress pointed out. The unique method to prevent cheating became viral when a Twitter user with the handle El Fuego MUTAZ tweeted the photo.
More High Tech Methods
Other than the high-tech method to avert cheating in the gaokao, other ways China tried to prevent cheating include the use of drones and binoculars. In December, children in Henan Province were made to take an exam outdoors where it was cold and smog also blocked the view of each other’s test papers.
Over the years, radio devices, earpieces and spy cameras were found in students taking the gaokao. These devices are used to send and receive answers. Also used by the students are jewelry, eyeglasses, wallets, pens, rulers and underwear.
Netizens were divided over the anti-cheating strategy adapted by the Anhui school, with some finding the idea bright and others it is ridiculous since it makes the students look ridiculous.