The Chinese State Council said Thursday it was considering a complete overhaul of the country's high school and college examination and enrollment system by 2020.

The State Council aims to improve fairness and transparency through amending the examination and enrollment system all over China, according to Xinhua News Agency.

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This is to respond to the vast differences in quality and access in different schools and universities. Moreover, officials are hoping to attain more enrollments from under-developed areas to reduce the gap between developed and less developed regions.

Du Yubo, China's Vice Education Minister, explained that three measures will be initiated, including the improvement of a national enrollment plan, pursuit of support for students from the western region of the country, and requirement posed for universities to release quota plans.

One of the highlighted approaches is connected with college entrance examinations that will be taken at a staggered manner throughout the school year instead of just after the student graduates.

Also, the State Council circular that announced the changes indicated guidelines for the standardization of comprehensive high school evaluation of students will be released within 2014. In this manner, a complete record of the student's performance in educational institutions will be provided.

Related pilot programs are set to begin this year in Shanghai and Zhejiang. These will later be expanded after three years.

According to Du, such reforms are made to ease pressure, promote fairness, and increase supervision for Chinese students.

Though the former system yielded great results with respect to concerns ranging from selecting talents to social fairness, it has also generated numerous complaints because of its emphasis on scores, citing it as a principal determinant of the students' future.

"The current exam has attracted criticism due to its overemphasis on numerical scores, which has skewed the rounded development of students. Reform of the exam is in everyone's interests and the plan was devised after public consultation, heated discussion and repeated revision," Du explained.

Tagsexamination, college, high school, reform, overhaul, enrollment, China State Council