China: Decision to hold swim tests online was due to Covid, report says (representative)
Beijing:
After the Chinese University of Shanghai announced that it was putting the swimming test online amid the COVID-19 outbreak, netizens went to a meme fest, with one of the students wearing swim goggles and a hat to jump from his nightstand onto the bed to perform swimming moves.
The Chinese university’s dean’s office announced on May 15 that the final swimming test for college graduate students could be taken online, which was heavily mocked by netizens including TikTok users. posing as students preparing for the test, a US news outlet Washington Examiner reported.
One of the users joked and asked if the test was a new reality version of “surfing the web”.
Joining the hilarious festival of memes, another jokingly asked if swimming in the tub at home would be allowed instead.
Additionally, one of the Twitter users can also be seen working on a laptop in a swimming pool while wearing swimming goggles.
Students graduating from top Chinese universities must pass a 50-meter swimming test to graduate. This latest move by China has raised eyebrows with many joking and wondering if it’s a swim or sink test.
An unnamed staff member from the dean’s office said the decision to move the test online was due to a surge in COVID-19 cases that forced the city into lockdown on April 1.
The staff member told Chinese publication Jimu: “Classes and facilities, including the university’s swimming pool, are suspended as part of the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown. To ensure that students can graduate, we have decided to conduct the swim test online,”
Notably, China’s Zero-COVID policy has drawn strong criticism from around the world. Shanghai residents protested from their windows, banging pots and screaming in frustration, others even clashed with police and health workers in the streets – a rare scene in a country where dissent is regularly suppressed .
Videos leaked on social media have also exposed the harsh reality of China’s infamous Zero-COVID policy. Practically, two viral videos have raised eyebrows and sparked criticism across the globe.
One of the viral videos is from Shanghai where people are seen shouting from their balconies at home. Shanghai, the country’s financial capital, has reported more than 20,000 cases a day.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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