China has warned over 1.5 million students appearing for upcoming graduate school entrance exam against cheating, saying that any act of violation during the examination warrants seven year prison term.
Those caught cheating could now face criminal penalties, the Ministry of Education warned.
A recent amendment to the Criminal Law, which took effect on November 1, stipulates that organising cheating, facilitating cheating or hiring others to sit state-level exams are punishable by detention or imprisonment up to seven years, the Ministry said.
Although exam bans have been imposed on students caught cheating in sporadic cases, punishment for cheaters other than invalidating their scores was not written into the laws prior to the amendment.
Chinese college students and college graduates have to take a written examination to enter graduate school.
About 1.65 million people sat the graduate school entrance examination last year.
The exam is scheduled to for December 26-28 this year.
The ministry publicised public hotlines for tips on cheating and other violations today, vowing no tolerance and severe penalties to violators, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
