Millions Of Chinese Students Sit Gruelling College Entrance Exams

Millions of Chinese students sit gruelling college entrance exams

Beijing, June 7 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th Jun, 2023 ) :Millions of Chinese students sit for notoriously tough college entrance exams on Wednesday, the first since the country lifted zero-Covid rules that forced classes online for months on end.

China's education ministry says nearly 13 million students, a record, are registered to take the "gaokao" exams -- billed by state media as the "world's toughest" -- this year.

"I've been waking up at 4 am every day, except on Sundays, to study for the past four years," Jesse Rao, a 17-year-old high school senior in Shenzhen, told AFP.

"I've done everything I can, but I still feel a bit nervous." In Beijing, anxious parents gathered around exam halls as their children knuckled down, many wearing red for good luck.

Zhang Jing, a mother in her forties, compared herself to Bai Suzhen, a character in Chinese folklore who is locked in a tower until her son passes an important test.

"My son is quite relaxed, I think I am more nervous than him," Zhang, wearing a red qipao, a traditional Chinese dress, told AFP.

"I have been accompanying my son and instructing his study from the first grade of elementary school to the first year of high school," she explained.

Another mother, Fang Hong, told AFP she had prepared a simple breakfast of bread and eggs for her son.

"My son is a bit nervous, I told him we can accept any results of the gaokao and not put any pressure on him," she said.