Test Driven: Parents Protest Changes to University Entrance Exam from buzai232's blog

business news articles,Anger and frustration over China’s notoriously competitive college entrance exam spilled over into street protests this weekend in a handful of Chinese cities.

Protesters, many of them identified as parents in social media postings, staged demonstrations in at least six cities in Jiangsu province over concern that education authorities are reducing the number of spots set aside for local students in provincial universities. In the provincial capital, Nanjing, parents gathered outside of provincial offices Saturday, shouting, “Governor, come out!” as riot police kept them at bay.Photos posted to social media also apparently showed protesters in the central city of Wuhan, in Hubei province, gathering to oppose the implementation of a similar plan.

The anger on display underscored the high stakes for millions of Chinese students every year over the fearsome entrance exam, known as the gaokao. The test is an all-important arbiter: admission slots at universities are allotted according to test scores, sort of.

The admissions process is fraught with regional inequities. China’s best schools are located in wealthy cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, and those universities allocate larger quotas to local students.

In recent days, fears about shrinking quotas for local students had bubbled up in Jiangsu, one of China’s wealthier provinces, after authorities announced a change in the system. As part of a national scheme to try to boost more equity, provincial authorities said 38,000 slots in Jiangsu universities would be reserved for students from other provinces, including poorer regions such as Guizhou and Guangxi.

The move prompted a firestorm of concern that local students would be hurt in the process. “Jiangsu parents are well-educated, a lot of them are business people who are rich,” said Zhang Weiqi, founder of NextGen Parents, an education-focused social network for parents. “They have high expectations for their kids.”

Aside from the standoff between protesters and police in Nanjing, videos and photos posted to social media showed protests taking place in the cities of Xuzhou and Yancheng as well as Taizhou, Changshu and Lianyungang.

A hashtag, #ReducedJiangsuEnrollment, attracted 3 million views by Saturday afternoon on Weibo, a Twitter-like social media service.

In recent days, Jiangsu authorities sought to assuage concerns, releasing statements explaining that overall the gaokao acceptance rate for local students will rise because the number of test-takers from Jiangsu is declining each year.

“The gaokao touches every student and family’s personal interests,” the Jiangsu Education Department head, Shen Jian, said in a statement posted on the agency’s verified Weibo account Saturday. “I fully understand the concern and anxiety with which students and parents regard enrollment plans.”

The Education Department also sent out a text message blast to Nanjing residents with a similar message late Saturday, according to recipients.