Beijing — China’s Ministry of Education said today it was stepping up efforts to fight cheating in this year’s national university-entrance examination. Students caught will be disqualified from next year’s registration and will have their test scores declared invalid, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Ministry of Public Security “will strengthen patrolling around exam rooms to prevent people from using radio transmitters and receivers to aid in cheating,” Xinhua reported.

The news agency said that students found with “severe cheating behavior,” including using telecommunications instruments or asking someone else to take the exam for them, will be punished. It did not state what the punishments would be.

The education ministry said that students caught taking the exam for others would face possible expulsion from their universities.

Some 10.5 million students will take the university-entrance exam this year. The test begins on Saturday and runs for several days. —Paul Mooney