Offsite college entrance exams introduced across China

18-year-old Peng Jianghuai is a high school graduate in Bengbu, Anhui province. On Friday, she will take the college entrance exam with her classmates locally, despite her Hukou, or registered residence is not tied to Bengbu, where she and her parents have lived for more than 10 years.

"I can choose to participate in the exam that will affect my whole life both in Anhui and Jiangxi. It's really good. Since, I've stayed in Bengbu for so many years, I chose here ," student of Bengbu No. 5 High School Peng Jianghuai said.

"I was so happy to be informed that my child could apply to sit exams here in Bengbu. We never imagined that she wouldn't have had to go back to her hometown, and take the exam locally, " Peng Jianghuai's father Peng Yaoming said.

In the past ten years, most provinces across China have stopped using the unified examination papers, but self-assigned the papers instead. Under the new policies, the offsite students have more confidence in completing the papers locally.

"The textbooks, the exam syllabus and the environment vary in different provinces. Migrant workers' children who grow up in big cities are unfamiliar with the textbooks and dialects used in their hometowns, which greatly affects their performance on the exam," teacher of Bengbu No. 5 High School Peng Jianghuai Liu Sisi said.

Anhui has a large output of migrant workers. Most rural residents go to the coastal areas to find a better job. Before the policies were implemented, their children would have to either return to their native places for further schooling or risk dropping out of school if they choose to stay in those big cities.

"This year, over 510,000 students will take the college entrance exam in Anhui province, including 216 ones who are not the locals. As a labor-exporting province, the number of candidates who take the offsite exams in Anhui is much less than the one in Zhengjiang, Jiangsu and other places," deputy director of Anhui Education Examination Authority Wu Pingchuan said.

So far, nearly 20 provinces and municipalities have formulated plans to ensure that children of migrant workers can enjoy the same rights as their urban peers in terms of education in various degrees. According to the authorities, more than 4,500 candidates are participating in the offsite exams this year, that's out of more than 9 million candidates sitting the exam across China.