The Beijing Municipal Commission of Education recently prohibited junior high schools from using Mathematical Olympiad results as one of the conditions for admission applications.

It seems comforting that a large number of children will be released from this dull and obscure course. My little niece in Beijing sounded cheerful when she heard the news. Less homework, more playtime, that's all she, like most kids at her age, asks for.

But the reality always turns to be cruel. If not this test, there would be another. In fact, something similar happened in Shanghai last year, with the English-language Star Test.  Like the Mathematical Olympiad training course, this was another "popular course" for parents, if not for students.

To get a head start, numerous parents pushed their young children to take the Star Test, the results of which are valued by many primary and junior high schools in considering the admission applications. 

To relieve the heavy burden on schoolchildren, the Shanghai education authorities abolished this test by directly closing down the organizer. 

However, around eight months later, schoolchildren are still busy with various courses and tests now. The daughter of a friend of mine complained that she and most of her classmates are studying English courses such as Side by Side, New Concept English and Pearson Test of English at weekends.

On the other hand, some parents are concerned about these prohibitions. Nearly every parent expects a better future for their children. If a kid can study in a good junior high school, it is more likely that he or she can get into a reputable senior high school, then a top university, and eventually get a decent job. However, the vacancies in the handful of good junior high schools each year are very limited compared with the huge number of applicants. 

Thus, selection is inevitable. The crucial issue here is what the standards for such selection are. Till now, tests have been a relatively fair method.

Although getting access to training courses obviously requires financial resources and time that aren't available to the vast majority of Chinese parents, but limited to the urban middle class, it's still a relatively level testing field for kids' abilities.

If tests are removed from the selection criteria list, what will be the substitute?

Under the present policies, there is no unified entrance examination for junior high schools admission application. Instead, the young children are allocated into a designated school in accordance with where they live. However, the price of houses in good school areas is very expensive, due to the high demands from parents and the usual locations in the city center. 

Alternatively, the school may charge an expensive school selection fee. So top junior high schools are filled with children from rich families while children from ordinary families are rejected merely because their parents cannot afford the cost of school selection.

This is not the outcome anyone except the rich and connected themselves wants.

The reason for the government to break the link between Mathematical Olympiad results and junior high schools admission application is to relieve the students from the heavy study load.

But these prohibitions will not work just by themselves. The course may come back soon under another name or be replaced by other ones. 

Fundamentally, it is the imbalance of educational resources distribution and imperfection of educational policies that cause the problem.

There is a long way to go before all children over the country have equal access to fair and high quality educational resources regardless of wealth, background, or gender. But for the moment, exams and other tests may offer a fairer alternative than most.

The author is an in-house counsel based in Shanghai. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn