Using Drone Technology to Curb Cheating?

Chinese authorities have started using drones to prevent cheating in college entrance exams.

The government of China is now flying six-propeller drones after several students were caught using wireless devices to exchange answers and insights, The Guardian reported.

Students face enormous amounts of social and familial pressure to succeed. This is because the score a student gets on the entrance exam determines the quality of the university they will attend.

Because of this pressure, cheating has become a common practice and several different methods have reportedly been used, such as using wireless devices to communicate answers during the test. Some were caught selling answers and some students even hired other people to sit in their place and take the exam for them.

This year, Chinese officials took a bold step and dared to spend tens of thousands of dollars in an attempt to make the college entrance exam more fair. A six-propeller drone was flown over two testing centres in the city of Luoyang. The purpose of the drones was to intercept signals being transmitted by devices used to cheat.

A Chinese official from the radio supervision and regulation bureau, Lan Zhigang, said "A drone has its advantages. In an urban area full of tall buildings, various barriers limit the operating range of devices on the ground, while the drone can rise up to 500 metres and detect signals over the whole city," The Guardian reported.

Every year, millions of Chinese students take the test and their future depends on how well they do on the test.

The college entrance exam is mandatory for nearly all Chinese high school students. It is estimated that 9 million students will take the exam.