No proctor in an examination hall! It may sound unlikely at a time when students are finding new ways and using more sophisticated tools to cheat and the number of such cases is rising.

But No 30 Middle School in Xi'an proved students were essentially honest by making 55 of them take their exams without a single proctor in the hall on Saturday.

"We're confident of the trial's success and of our students' honesty and integrity," school Instruction Director Wang Hong said.

If the trial is a success, the 1,000-odd students will follow their 55 schoolmates, he said.

The 55 students signed an agreement on Friday, saying they would not cheat, before being allowed to take the exam without an proctor.

"Compared to such trials in other schools, ours is a real one because the hall didn't even have closed-circuit cameras," Wang said.

"The students were enrolled voluntarily for the trial. In fact, many more wanted to take the no-proctor test but couldn't because of the limited number of seats in the hall," the teacher in-charge of the trial Zhao Ping said.

Zheng Xuming, a student who took part in the trial, said he was lucky to get a chance. He was sure all his classmates would live up to the expectation because "such a practice helps us build our credibility".

Exams without proctors were first held in junior and senior middle schools, colleges and universities of Henan, Hubei and Jiangsu provinces, from June last year to January, to instil a sense of moral responsibility in students.

The move came amid widespread reports of students using more secretive methods and modern gadgets to cheat in exams, especially in national English-level and post-graduate admission tests.

Helping students cheat in exams has become a "business" in some places, with more sophisticated equipment and techniques in play.

Cheating in exams is a social problem, hence the importance of the Xi'an school trial, Xi'an Teacher Training College professor and education expert Zhou Weidong said.

"The trial is a positive move and will help students build moral and social trust. It'll make them work harder and be more self-confident, and create a relaxed atmosphere during exams," Zhou said.

But such trials will become a mere formality if the exam-centric education system remains the same, he said. If the existing system of college entrance exams is not changed and if students are continued to be judged by the marks they score then the exercise would fail to fulfil its purpose.

Source: China Daily