There has been a lot of discussion in recent years about the “elimination of secondary and higher education examinations”, especially at the 2026 juncture, where the number of students enrolled in junior high schools is at an all-time high, starting next year. Parents, teachers, and even the neighborhoods around them are popular, saying that after this year, junior high school students will be less than a year, as if the sky of education would collapse. In two meetings, the member of the shanghai political consultative council spoke and said that “the cancellation of the mid-level and high-level examinations was a matter of time before and after”, and directly lit everyone's nerves. The reaction is very real, there's relaxing, there's fear of losing our jobs, there's panic -- there's probably no fair line。
However, things are not as simple as everyone thought, and after all, the ministry of education has come out with rumours — that the mid-level examination is now a path to higher education, that it is stable and that it is simply a rumour. But while rumours are false, change is real, and this is the consensus of many front-line parents and teachers. Rather than say whether the examination should be cancelled, the examination's “intense” could be very different for the junior high school students alone. I used to get a hard-on, but i got a high score. The ministry of education has now set the tone and, starting in 2026, the subject of the mid-level examination will change considerably. As in beijing, the test is still difficult, with only 20 per cent of the hard-core questions and more than 60 per cent of the real problems. Parents are fast changing their curves, and children have to not only know, but also use and understand, and may allow a lot of “problems” to leave the comfort zone。
To be honest, the population is changing. According to official data, in 2025 there were only 9. 54 million newborns, half of them fewer than in 2016, and the total number of students enrolled in junior high schools, high schools and universities continued to rise after several years. The situation is clear — the former “layered selection” and the future became the main “capacity-building”. It's been a long time since i've been doing my best to score a mid-level test. But the new reality is that, as long as there is a shortage of famous schools, good jobs, even if there is a sharp decline in the number of students, 90 per cent of students can go to college, and quality cakes are still so big and competitive。
Some people have begun to taste it locally. In zhejiang county, for example, the population has been declining continuously, and last year it was announced that the population has risen sharply. At that time, only 325 students were enrolled in junior high school, 36 in senior grades, and there was dissatisfaction in high school, and the examination selection was set up. However, it is also a reality that it is impossible to copy it in large cities and places with large numbers of students. In places like henan, where the rate of admission to the highest level is less than half, it is difficult to think about eliminating the examination. Educational resources and demographics vary greatly, and one size fits all。
It's the baldest thing, actually: what do you see when you cancel the score? You don't know how many projects are parents. And what about the quality of the evaluation? In the “human-friendly society”, the powerless kids really have no idea. It's fair and naive to say we're withdrawing. The score may not be perfect, but the bottom line is still on it. So it's too late to cancel the exam for a short time, and it's gonna take us 20 or 30 years。
Rather than focusing on the word “cancelled”, it would be better to see the direction of change. The national conference on education, 2026, emphasized reform and, in places such as shanghai and chengdu, “continuation training” of the junior high-level and junior high-level system has been initiated to reduce the disruptions caused by the periodic examinations. Beijing, xi'an and others are already adjusting mid-level examinations, and the weight of scores has been slowly replaced by a combination of quality, in order to reduce the pressure on “one test” and explore more scientific selection paths. It's a classic "hot-cooked frog," and you may not notice it, but it's a little bit different。
The whole logic of education is clearly one of ability to work from scoring to scoring. Ai has been able to draw and write poems, and society wants those who can really think, not the “problems” of the sea forever. So now, policies such as “two-declining” policies, generalization and comprehensive quality evaluation, including specialty courses and community projects, are slowly becoming important. The children have to work hard to develop themselves. They can't live on a roll. Think of who will be better able to achieve results in science competitions, social practices, reading and writing。
Even with only half the children in the rest of the class, the competition is still going on — qinghua north is still picking people, and good companies are still on those high wages. The examination may not be called a fraction line, but the selection will continue in a different way. The very essence of the “inner volume” of education has never been the number of students, but rather the quality of education, good opportunities and never enough。
Parents don't just say, "no more exams," all these yearsEducation reformIt's really a slow transition. The children want to find their own way, not to be afraid of the stage, but to think about it. The real bottom line, the ability to work and work, is the law of the times. What's the key to the future? Read, think, wonder, act, communicate, and who can hold them steady and who wins. What do you think? Where are your kids now? The comment section is welcome。
