Special report: Reconstruction After Earthquake

    BEIJING, July 3 -- The 19-year-old managed to flee his home before it collapsed in the May 12 earthquake. A week after the disaster, the local education authorities moved Wang and his schoolmates from Mianyang to a temporary shelter in nearby Deyang city.

    Besides food and clothing, Wang also received textbooks and psychological conseling, which had helped him prepare for the exam.

Students line up on Wednesday to familiarize themselves with the classrooms at Sichuan Engineering Technical College where they will sit their three-day long national college entrance examination from today.(Photo Source: China Daily) Photo Gallery>>>

    "I will do my best in the exam," Wang said. "I am lucky just to be able to take it."

    During the next three days, 96,000 high-school students in the quake-hit zones in Sichuan will take the annual examination, almost a month after the rest of the country.

    These students have gone through a traumatic experience, but are determined to succeed in life.

    A total of 4,721 students will take the exam in Deyang city, half of whom are from nearby counties.

    Local education authorities said 70 percent of the schools in the Deyang region are now considered too dangerous to enter.

    Since June 10, construction workers from Tianjin had built a total of 653 prefabricated temporary classrooms where the examination will be held. Safety shelters have also been built in case of a severe aftershock.

    "At the beginning, the students refused to move from their sweltering tents to our buildings, despite proof of their safety," Tang Ying, a psychotherapist, said. "We spent more than a week to help them deal with their fears."

    Tang along with other 30 therapists have been living with the students for the past month, offering conseling whenever necessary.

    "Now we can finally see the smile back on their faces," Tang said.

    (Source: China Daily)



Students in quake-hit areas attend college entrance exam 

   CHENGDU, July 3 (Xinhua) -- A total of 120,000 students in China's quake-hit areas started their three-day national college entrance exam on Thursday morning, which was delayed about a month after the May 12 earthquake. Full story

Students in quake-hit regions to take vital exam

    BEIJING, July 3 -- About 120,000 middle school students in the earthquake-ravaged regions in southwest China will take the delayed national college entrance examination on Thursday. Full story

Preparing for the post-quake college entrance exam

    Some 1,800 students are attending review classes in a warehouse-converted into a giant classroom to prepare for the annual national college entrance examination, or "gaokao". The examination for the 62 quake-ravaged counties and districts in Sichuan and Gansu provinces was postponed until July 3 to 5, the Ministry of Education said. Full story