Xiao Yang, a student about to sit for his national college entrance exam, is worried, and with good reason.

"From time to time, we hear of stories about cheating and bribery, especially exams related to physical education, arts and music," the student of Guangzhou No 41 Middle School, said.

Yesterday, provincial authorities confirmed that three examiners have been accused of bribery and malpractice in connection with a local physical education entrance exam which was held between March 2 and 13.

The authorities declined to disclose the names of the three pending legal action.

"We took immediate action after learning about the bribery and malpractice from the local media and citizens," Lai Hongying, a press officer with the provincial education department, told China Daily.

Lai said the examiners had received bribes from an intermediary to score high marks for some students.

"The students involved were told their exams would be null and void," she said.

Students found to have cheated are barred for a year from taking the same exam.

In about a month's time, 614,000 students in Guangdong, will take this year's national college entrance exam in various subjects, a 10 percent increase over last year.

The admission rate to colleges in Guangdong last year was about 65 percent.

More than 12,000 students took the physical education exam, but less than 4,000 were admitted to colleges last year. Many take majors in arts and physical education because they require lower academic scores.

Exams of such majors are held earlier so that candidates can prove they are qualified. If students fail in these exams, they can still take part in the national entrance exams in various other subjects.

"I really hope that the authorities will pay more attention to the phenomenon of cheating," Xiao said.

At a teleconference on Tuesday, Song Hai, vice-governor of Guangdong, said the province will firmly crack down against bribery and malpractice at this year's college entrance exam and enrollment. An examiner's promotion will be linked to his or her performance.

"The province will redouble efforts to fight cheats. We will use hi-tech detection facilities," he said.

All 20,000 examination halls in the province have installed cameras.

(China Daily May 9, 2008)