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Over 133 lakh students take China's Gaokao, 10x more than India's biggest exams

Over 133 lakh students take China's Gaokao, 10x more than India's biggest exams

India Today3 days ago

China came to a halt this Saturday as 13.35 million (133.5 lakh) students sat for the Gaokao 2025 – the national college entrance exam that can make or break careers. Held across thousands of centres, this year's number was slightly lower than 2024, when 13.42 million students took the test.Known for being one of the toughest university entrance exams in the world, Gaokao decides who gets into China's top colleges. The pressure? Immense. Outside each centre, crowds of anxious parents waited with snacks, drinks, and even flowers, hoping to cheer their kids on.What's interesting is that the number of students that appear for this exam in China is much higher than the number that appeared for the last CBSE Class 12 board exams (16.92 lakhs) or the last JEE Mains (12.58 lakhs) session. The number of participants is more than 10 times than those appearing for the biggest exams in India!SECURITY, AI CAMERAS AND FREE RIDES FOR STUDENTSGaokao day in China is no ordinary day. Cities brought in temporary traffic rules to keep roads around exam halls clear. Many students even got free transport help to reach their centres on time.Inside, some centres used AI-powered cameras to catch anything unusual -- an extra step to avoid cheating and maintain fairness. Police used drones and other high-tech tools to watch over the process.Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang visited a school in Taiyuan and called for extra safety and fairness during the exam.GAOKAO STILL SEEN AS A DOOR TO A BETTER FUTUREEver since it was brought back in 1977, Gaokao has helped millions move ahead in life. As per Xinhua, 'Gaokao, the unified exam, has transformed millions of lives through merit-based selection.'According to China's education ministry, over 47 million students were enrolled in colleges and universities by 2023. While the gross enrolment rate in higher education has crossed 60%, fresh graduates face tough job prospects due to a slowing economy -- about 12 million students enter the workforce every year.(With PTI inputs)
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Menu हिंदी తెలుగు اردو Home Politics Economy World Security Law Science Society Culture Editor's Pick Opinion Support independent journalism. Donate Now Government Appearing Before Probe Panel, KCR Says Engineers Responsible For Change in Kaleshwaram Project Site N. Rahul 21 minutes ago He reportedly also held the engineers responsible for the Medigadda barrage being used to store and not regulate the flow of water. Former Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao arrives at the office of the Justice P.C. Ghose Commission in Hyderabad on June 11, 2025. Photo: PTI. Real journalism holds power accountable Since 2015, The Wire has done just that. But we can continue only with your support. Contribute now Hyderabad: Former Telangana chief minister and Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) president K. Chandrashekar Rao on Wednesday (June 11) appeared before a judicial inquiry commission here probing allegations of corruption and poor quality of construction in the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project on the Godavari River. The inquiry was conducted in camera at Rao's request as he was unwell and did not wish to be surrounded by mediapersons and others who would have crowded the room. A judicial commission headed by former Supreme Court Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose had been hearing witnesses for 15 months regarding the reasons for the escalation of the Kaleshwaram project's cost from Rs 82,000 crore to nearly Rs 1.5 lakh crore during the BRS regime. It has also held hearings regarding the sinking of two piers of the project's principal barrage at Medigadda in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district a month before the party was voted out of power in the November 2023 assembly election. On Wednesday, Rao walked into the commission's office in response to a notice as a sequel to the hearing of his erstwhile cabinet colleagues T. Harish Rao and Eatala Rajender days earlier. He was loudly cheered on by party supporters in large numbers both before entering and while leaving the office at the multi-storied Burgula Ramakrishna Rao Bhavan near the state secretariat. In this image released by @brsparty on June 11, 2025, KCR greets supporters, party leaders and workers after appearing before the Justice P.C. Ghose Commission in Hyderabad. Photo via PTI. Sources in the commission indicated that Rao was asked to identify those persons who decided to shift the site of the barrage from Tummidihatti in the erstwhile Adilabad district to Medigadda, 20 kilometres downstream the Godavari. To this, Rao replied that it was purely a technical decision made by an expert team of engineers on the basis of a study conducted by the Water and Power Consultants (WAPCOS) Limited, which is a Union government undertaking. It is significant that the project was shifted from Tummidihatti on the Pranahita River, a tributary of the Godavari, to Medigadda, where the two rivers meet 20 kilometres downstream of the Kaleshwaram village, after substantial work was carried out at the former site. The shift not only resulted in the project cost going up from Rs 38,500 crore to Rs 82,000 crore by an initial estimate and later to Rs 1.5 lakh crore, but it also led to the loss of Rs 767 crore to the state exchequer, as many works had become redundant. Rao explained that the change of site enabled an increase in the amount of irrigable land from 2.47 lakh acres to 16.40 lakh acres with the construction of three barrages and 17 reservoirs. 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