How many male highschool graduates will stand up against gender imbalance among primary and kindergarten staff? (Photo : Reuters)
Over nine million Chinese high school students took the Gaokao, the country's national college entrance exam, which commenced on June 7.
The figure, which tallied up to 9.42 million, is a slight increase from last year's 9.39 million, the statistics of the Ministry of Education showed.
The Chinese government has called the attention of concerned staff members to ensure that the exam will be smooth-flowing.
For instance, police officers were deployed to roads and examination areas for security. Drivers have also been told to give way to vehicles transporting examinees, or even test papers.
However, in spite of the whooping number of college entrance exam takers, Chinese universities still face a growing survival crisis, following years and years of explosive expansion.
The exam, regarded as the single most significant test a Chinese can take, has seen a general decline in its number of takers five years since 2009. The statistic climaxed in 2008 when 10.5 million examinees participated.
Although in 2014, growth seems to become steady, the modest recovery has not been an assurance in addressing the issue of survival crises, showed a recent 2015 report on Chinese university admissions posted by China Education on its Web portal.
Academic institutions have also voiced out concerns over having difficulty in meeting recruitment quotas. In the Henan Province, about 7,000 college openings were not filled last year, which translates to 11.36 percent of the total quotas in the area.
Central authorities have been setting quotas for college enrolment in provinces and key cities under the country's university recruitment scheme. The Gaokao test scores of the students are then used to know which universities or colleges they are qualified to.
In Beijing, considered as the seat of best education-providing institutions in China, the same problem is being faced. The quotas for its students who take Gaokao dropped from 76,700 in 2008 to 52,200 in 2014.
According to Chen Zhiwen, the editor in chief of China Education online, "Chinese universities are undergoing a serious survival crisis."
Another issue faced by the government is the idea that taking college education is not an insurance for a good job. Statistics have revealed that those who took the Gaokao four years ago--around 7.5 million--are still looking for job.
Analysts have pointed out that homogenous education is the one to blame for the intensified job hunting competition.
"The crisis of recruitment, seemingly an employment problem, is indeed a crisis of declining education quality," Chen remarked.
Furthermore, the current Chinese college admission in China, that is having lower chances of getting into the country's top universities, has prompted other parents to send their children abroad for studies.
The Ministry of Education stated that about a million of eligible Gaokao takers in 2010 decided against the test, and a fifth of them chose to study overseas.
In a China Education online report, citing the Open Doors Report showing figures from the U.S., the number of Chinese high school students taking higher education in the country reached 110,550 from 2013-2014. The number is 50 percent higher from that of 2010-2011.
