GROWING COMPETITION for jobs in the Chinese civil service appears to have produced a boom in dishonesty, with about 1,000 cheats caught in the national entrance exams this year.
Hundreds of thousands of unemployed graduates seek safe berths in government offices, but their desperation to succeed has led to the highest level of cheating on record, according to the China Daily newspaper.
While 775,000 people took the exam – an increase of more than 20 per cent – only 13,500 jobs were available.
Applicants have used increasingly hi-tech methods to pass the papers, with some even using listening devices so accomplices outside can whisper answers into their ears.
More than 300 cheats were caught in the exam rooms in November last year, while another 700 were collared after examiners realised their papers “shared much conformity”.
The administration said it would disqualify cheats and, in serious cases, bar them from civil service exams for five years.Details of their offences would also be kept on a recruitment database for future reference.
The national civil service received so many applications this year that its website crashed on the first day of operation.
A huge expansion in higher education and reduced job opportunities because of the financial downturn are thought to be responsible.
An earlier report from the official Xinhua news agency said the public had been warned not to buy answers or test papers that are being sold unofficially. It added that exam papers were state secrets and those caught leaking them faced three to seven years in prison. – ( Guardianservice)