Students Given Intravenous Drips Ahead Of China's National College Entrance Examination

BEIJING, May 8 (Bernama) -- A photo posted by a microblogger on May 4, showing a group of students given intravenous drips in the classroom during the night study session when preparing for their examination, have triggered criticism online. The students, from Xiaogang No. 1 High School in Xiaogang city, Central China's Hubei province, were intranevously given drips of amino acid hanging from the ceiling, which is believed to supply them energy to continue battling for the upcoming Gaokao or national college entrance examination. According to a microblog poll, 82 per cent of netizens expressed sympathy to the students and questioned the necessasity of the IV drips. Director of the school's administrative office Xia claimed that the government granted a 10-yuan subsidy for amino acid for each student who would take part in this year's Gaokao, Beijing Times reported. Each student needed to pay US$1.58 (10 yuan) for a 500ml bottle of amino acid. However, the Hubei provincial education authority said they had never known such a subsidy and the authorities had launched an investigation. China’s Gaokao has been labelled as the "most pressure-packed examination in the world", which makes both high school students and their parents suffer. --BERNAMA