Guangdong students take crucial ‘Gaokao’ amid COVID-19 outbreak

Thousands of students in the southern Guangdong province have an additional test to take before the grueling college-entrance exams this year: a COVID-19 test.

Amid a sporadic outbreak that has put the province on high alert, some 54,900 students in provincial capital Guangzhou had undergone two tests for the coronavirus before they sat the gaokao Monday, according to the local education authority. Meanwhile, all staff involved with the examinations had been vaccinated, while examination sites had been inspected to ensure there were no contaminants.

On Monday, a record 10.78 million high school students showed up to take the gaokao, which is considered key for accessing some of the country’s elite higher education institutions. Though last year’s exam was postponed by a month until early July due to the pandemic, authorities have taken heightened measures to go ahead as planned this year, despite sporadic local infections in the country, including in Guangdong.

As of Sunday, Guangzhou had reported 98 locally transmitted cases — including both confirmed and asymptomatic ones — while the province had identified more than a dozen cases outside the city since this outbreak’s first infection was confirmed May 21.

According to the provincial educational examinations authority, the over 30 students in Guangzhou deemed close contacts of confirmed COVID-19 patients will sit the exam on their own in separate locations, while contacts of the close contacts will be placed in groups of four in an exam room. Meanwhile, two test-takers are appearing for their exams from special, first-of-their-kind hospital rooms set up for students under medical observation.

But for many students, the virus fears have only exacerbated their stress from the gaokao reforms being implemented this year in eight provinces — including Guangdong. According to the new model, students can pick three of the six mandatory courses instead of doing a prescribed set, which some parents and teens say has been causing uncertainty on how such changes might play out.

“It’s still too early to tell how the new reforms might impact my child,” said Zhu Ying, whose son is appearing for the exam this year in Guangzhou. “I just pray he hasn’t been distracted by outbreak-related rule adjustments and returns home healthy and happy.”

Online photos by by Xinkuaibao, or New Express and others