9.12m sit gaokao, numbers drop

Around 9.12 million high school students are registered to sit China's national college entrance examinations, or gaokao, on Friday and Saturday.

Schools, education authorities and law enforcement officers are geared up to ensure everything goes smoothly for students.

Despite the huge numbers, figures for those sitting the exam have declined year-on-year for five years, from the peak of 10.5 million candidates in 2008 to 9.15 million in 2012.

"Every year, about 10 percent of high school seniors don't take the gaokao, because some are pre-enrolled in university and some study abroad or go to work. The proportion hasn't fluctuated greatly in recent years," Xu Mei, spokesperson for the Ministry of Education said on Wednesday at a press conference, The Beijing News reported.

Education experts said that some students from rural areas may also not bother with the gaokao, as they see no hope of entering colleges, cannot afford the tuition fees and worry about finding jobs after graduation.

The average cost for four years' university study is about 75,000 yuan ($12,217) while the per capita income in rural areas was 7,917 yuan a year in 2012, according to an earlier Global Times report.

"For most rural families, supporting a college student is a big investment. They must consider both input and output," Lao Kaisheng, a professor with Capital Normal University, told the Global Times.

Zheng Fengtian, a professor with the Renmin University of China, said he believes that "It is inhuman for a rural family to use up all their savings to support a college student."

With job vacancies decreasing, 2013 has been dubbed as "the toughest year of employment" for the 6.99 million college graduates, the largest number since 1949.

However, Xiong Bingqi, deputy director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, said that he thinks the bleak employment outlook is unlikely to mean more students will forego the gaokao.

"There is no better choice than the gaokao, so most students will still attend universities even if they are uncertain about their future," said Xiong.

Some provinces have allowed the children of migrant workers to sit the gaokao where they live, instead of being forced to return to where their hukou (household registration) is recorded.

But only 347 children of migrant workers registered for the gaokao in Jiangsu Province, accounting for 0.08 percent of the province's 451,000 examinees. In Hubei Province, 438,000 are registered for the exam, but only 219 come from other provinces, China Education Daily reported.

The exam content varies according to province, and registration for migrants is later than for local students, so many had already returned home for the exam, said the report.

The education ministry has this year vowed to crack down hard on cheating, sales of high-tech gear for cheating, and gaokao-related fraud.

Students violating the rules will be disqualified and have their wrongdoings recorded for future reference of universities and employers.