The college entrance examination papers were printed in prison? What happened? Revealed!

The annual college entrance examination kicked off on June 7. When the candidates sat in the examination room and took the test paper handed over by the invigilator, did they ever wonder what kind of extraordinary "journey" such a crucial test paper had gone through before it was finally delivered to them?

Question setting, printing, transportation, storage... every link is condensed with the hard work of the participants and contains special scientific and technological power, which ensures that each college entrance examination paper can be delivered to the hands of the candidates without any mistakes.

The "mysterious" propositioner

About two months before the college entrance examination, the selection of college entrance examination question setters will begin, usually composed of college teachers and middle school teachers. This process is called "entering the examination room". The relevant departments will conduct a comprehensive review of the selected question setters, strengthen confidentiality education, and sign confidentiality agreements.

During the college entrance examination, the examiners are not allowed to use any communication equipment and can only communicate with the outside world through landlines, and the content of the calls will be monitored throughout the process. Even if the examiners are lucky enough to bring communication equipment into the examination venue, the signal shielding equipment installed in various places in the venue will prevent mobile phones from being used normally.

After the college entrance examination papers are initially formed, they must be repeatedly tested and checked by experts until all opinions are unified and there are no more disagreements. Only then can the college entrance examination papers be considered finalized. In this process, the question setters must not only rack their brains in the process of setting questions, but also compare the questions they have set with the exercises in the exercise books on the market to prevent duplicate questions.

After the question setting work is completed, the question setters are still not allowed to leave the question setting place, but have to wait until the college entrance examination is over and all the candidates have left the examination room before they can leave. Even if they leave, according to regulations, the staff who participated in the question setting are not allowed to participate in the compilation and publication of college entrance examination related tutoring books and materials without the permission of the examination authority within a certain period of time.

Garbage and sewerage in printing units are strictly controlled

Every time the college entrance examination season comes, news about the printing of college entrance examination papers in prisons always arouses everyone's curiosity, and this is not groundless. Units that can print college entrance examination papers must have a Class A national secret carrier printing qualification jointly issued by the Ministry of Education and the State Security Bureau, and prisons are indeed among them.

The "Notice on Further Strengthening the Confidentiality Management of National Unified Examinations" clearly states that "prison printing factories that have been reviewed and found to meet the confidentiality requirements for printing examination papers may be issued a 'National Secret Carrier Reproduction License' with a limited scope of permission. The column for the scope of permission should state 'only for printing examination papers.'" Therefore, as long as certain conditions are met, prisons can become printing units for college entrance examination papers.

In addition to prisons, units responsible for printing college entrance examination papers generally implement fully closed management one month before the college entrance examination. Each workshop is equipped with a complete access control, monitoring, and anti-theft system. Not only are there security personnel on duty in shifts 24 hours a day, but even the sewers are installed with protective nets.

Workers who come into direct contact with the test papers are also subject to closed management. The level of management is almost the same as that of the test setters. In order to prevent the leakage of questions, all the garbage they produce must be crushed before being transported out of the printing unit. Similarly, they can only regain their "freedom" after the college entrance examination is over.

Real-time monitoring of the transportation process

After the college entrance examination papers are printed, they will be transported to examination sites in various regions. As the only mobile link, the transportation process is the focus of the college entrance examination paper security work.

If classified by confidentiality level, the college entrance examination papers are classified as "top secret", the highest level. Therefore, the packaged college entrance examination papers are usually escorted by a special service team, which includes staff from the examination center, as well as local public security and armed police officers.

The itinerary of the special service team has been planned before departure. All vehicles are equipped with satellite positioning devices. Once a vehicle deviates from the established route, the remote monitoring personnel can respond immediately. At the same time, cameras are installed in the inside and outside corners of each vehicle to monitor the situation inside and outside the vehicle in real time. All data will be transmitted to the command center in real time, and special personnel will remotely monitor the transportation process through video. At the same time, the complete monitoring video of the entire process will also be archived so that it can be reviewed when problems occur to find possible omissions.

The "test keeper" and the test paper "live and eat together"

After arriving at each test site, the college entrance examination papers will be stored in a special paper confidentiality room, and the construction of the confidentiality room also has strict requirements. According to relevant regulations, the paper confidentiality room must be located above the second floor of the building. The room must be a suite with steel-concrete or brick-concrete structure, with anti-theft, fire-proof, moisture-proof, and rodent-proof functions, equipped with iron doors, iron windows, and iron cabinets. The number of iron cabinets must be able to meet the requirements of storing all test papers by subject. The outer room of the suite is for the living of the on-duty personnel, and the inner room is used to store test papers. Anti-theft doors must be installed between the inner and outer rooms.

In the examination paper confidentiality room, there are a group of "paper keepers" who "eat and live together" with the college entrance examination papers. Different "paper keepers" will take turns to change positions. Whether eating, washing or going to the toilet, the examination papers cannot leave the guard for 24 hours. In addition to the close guard of the "paper keepers", electronic monitoring and infrared alarm devices are also installed inside and outside the confidentiality room. The infrared alarm device is connected to the 110 system. Once the alarm is triggered, relevant personnel can rush to the scene as quickly as possible.

To enter the examination paper confidentiality room, you usually have to go through at least three doors. Different keys are used for different doors and are kept in different hands. In other words, to enter the examination paper confidentiality room, at least three people must be present at the same time. It is the watertight security measures at every link that ultimately ensure the fairness of the college entrance examination.

Source: Science and Technology Daily