Primary and secondary schools should verify student records at least once per semester to ensure consistency, completeness and accuracy, the Ministry of Education said in a recently issued regulation on student records management.

According to the regulation, which is a revision of the 2013 version, student records are the evidence of students' identity, which entail their resident identity information, admission details and other necessary information.

The management of student records involves recording, verifying, and processing students' admission qualifications, academic performance, and graduation qualifications in accordance with relevant regulations.

"With an emphasis on education equity, the regulation further specifies procedures for student records transfer when students move to new schools, and calls for a stringent, timely handling of problems such as the discrepancy between where the student record is kept and where the student is actually enrolled in," said an official of the ministry's basic education department.

The regulation requires that each student should have a corresponding student record, which goes with the student when transferring to another school. The receiving school of a transferred student should initiate the transfer procedure on the national student record management system, which was established by the education ministry in 2014, and then it will be processed by the original school and relevant departments.

Such transfer procedure should be completed within 10 working days, and school transfers across provinces should be further facilitated via a one-stop online process, the regulation said.

The document also stipulated that schools should verify students' status at least once every semester, to ensure that the student is enrolled and their record is kept in the same school, that the record transfer procedure is complete, and that students' information is accurate.

Moreover, the regulation grants more autonomy to high schools that offer vocational and general education integration programs by allowing them to manage student records following relevant regulations at the provincial or regional level.

"Due to a lack of relevant regulations, there were barriers hindering the transfer of student records from vocational schools to regular high schools, and vice versa … Now students who meet the requirements are provided with an additional choice to freely transfer their student records between regular and vocational schools," Su Junyang, a professor at the Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, was quoted as saying by China Central Television.

In addition, the regulation stipulated that for children with severe disabilities who cannot attend school in person, local education administrations should arrange schools to help register their student records and provide home-based education services.

The regulation urged on improved flexibility in changing student records for those with disabilities. Based on evaluations by a committee of experts in disabled education, these students can advance to the next grade, repeat grade, graduate or continue their education, and changes will be registered in their student records through the national student record management system.

Digital technologies are utilized to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of student records management, with a special focus on streamlining procedures and ensuring data security, according to the official from the education ministry.

Xu Nuo contributed to this story.