context: Parents in Xi'an have accused students from the neighbouring province of Henan of exploiting household registration policies to have their children take the high school exam in Xi'an, thereby reducing local students' chances of attending elite high schools. This ongoing controversy over educational migration highlights concerns about regional education disparities and the fairness and competitiveness of an exam-centric system.
Given factors such as geography, education resources and local economic development, educational migration across regions is typically a forced decision for the marginalised groups, argues Chu Zhaohui 储朝晖 National Institute of Education Sciences researcher, reports Caixin.
The issues surrounding cross-provincial student returnees for the Xi'an high school entrance exam, zhongkao, have been controversial. These returnees refer to students registered as residents in Xi'an but studying in other locations who return to take the exam. The policy was originally designed to cater to Xi'an students who relocated with their parents. However, the emergence of an interprovincial schooling industry, attracting students from other provinces, has brought the policy under scrutiny.
Local residents claim that many of the returnees are unqualified for the policy. Following an investigation, authorities have cracked down on intermediaries and training institutions engaging in providing fraudulent qualifications for attending local exams. This is followed by releasing a new admission procedure for returnees that does not affect the original enrolment quota. Nonetheless, the controversy remains unsettled.
Further attention has been directed towards the Xi'an education system due to the growing influx of students from other regions vying for admission to the city's top five elite high schools. With the surge in applicants, competition for these premium educational resources has become intense.
The issue is closely tied to the covert interprovincial schooling industry, in which parents and students from other underserved regions take advantage of Xi'an's lenient household registration policies to sit for high school exams, aiming for better education prospects. Some schools and institutions capitalise on this practice, providing all-inclusive services such as registration help, policy analysis, exam training, and more.