Welcome ban on brouhaha over exam scores, but more needed

THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF NORTH CHINA'S HEBEI PROVINCE sent a notice to its subsidiary branches and all the high schools in the province, asking them not to publicize the gaokao (national college entrance exams) scores of their students, and not to post online the percentage of their students enrolled into colleges. That's a good move, comments Beijing News:

Giving too much publicity to the gaokao scores of the best students has been a longstanding phenomenon because of education officials' distorted understanding of their job performance. They believe the percentage of local students enrolled into colleges is important and tend to encourage local high schools to push their students for high scores.

Besides, posting the gaokao scores of their excellent students has led to local high schools trying to attract the best students by offering incentives for enrollment.