China university admissions see 12.9 million high school grads compete in Gaokao

China university admissions see 12.9 million high school grads compete in Gaokao

7 June 2026 22:28 (UTC+04:00)

China’s Ministry of Education has announced that a staggering
12.9 million high school graduates are sitting for the national
university entrance examination, universally known as the
Gaokao, which officially commenced on June 7,
AzerNEWS reports

The high-stakes examinations are scheduled to run from June 7 to
June 10 across various specialized subject groups. In addition to
testing in three mandatory core subjects—Chinese language,
mathematics, and a foreign language—students must also take exams
tailored to their chosen academic tracks, selecting from fields
including ideology and politics, history, geography, physics,
chemistry, and biology.

To accommodate the massive influx of examinees, authorities have
deployed an extraordinary logistical operation, utilizing 7,981
testing centers and roughly 348,000 individual examination rooms
nationwide. More than one million invigilators and exam supervisors
have been mobilized to ensure the integrity of the testing
process

Widely recognized as the largest and most competitive academic
examination in the world, the Gaokao has a long and
turbulent history. First introduced as a unified national selection
system in 1952, it was abruptly suspended during the political
upheavals of the Cultural Revolution. The suspension led to a sharp
decline in China’s educational standards and triggered a severe
shortage of skilled professionals. In 1977, Chinese leader Deng
Xiaoping restored the Gaokao system, a move historians
credit with supplying the vital human talent needed to drive
China’s historic economic reforms. Since its reinstatement, more
than 200 million young Chinese citizens have taken the exam.

Because of the sheer volume of applicants vying for limited
spots at top-tier universities, competition remains fiercely
intense. As a result, the Gaokao is regarded as far more
than just a test for the students themselves—it functions as a
grueling, life-altering rite of passage for entire families and
educators across the country

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Source: www.azernews.az