Chinese school stops exam cheating by using a newspaper 'device'

To stop students from cheating in exams, one school in Anhui province in China came up with a novel 'hat trick' utilising a simple everyday item - newspaper.

The school only had to cut a skull-sized hole in the middle of a centrespread and make every student wear it over their head like a hat.

Its unusual anti-cheating method received mixed reactions from netizens when photos of students taking a class test in the school in Chuzhou city with the newspaper pages over their heads went viral on social media in December, reported Sina.com.

Some thought it was a clever idea, while others slammed the school for insulting the students by making them look ridiculous in the cut newspapers.

The photos also sparked discussion on the best ways to crack down on rampant cheating in schools, reported Shanghaiist.

Widespread cheating in pressure-packed exams, especially those for high-school entry, have led schools to resort to extreme ways to nab culprits, like using binoculars and even drones when the tests were held outdoors, added Shanghaiist.

Apart from outright copying answers, cheaters have resorted to using their phones and spy cams in recent years.

In India, relatives of test candidates have been more brazen in the way they helped the students - they scaled school walls and threw study aids into classrooms, reported the media.

In March 2015, police detained more than 1,000 people in eastern India for doing that, reported AFP.

chenj@sph.com.sg

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