A 17-year-old Chinese girl, who was in the headlines for being a genius in a Mathematics contest, has been declared a cheater by the competition authorities, according to a BBC report.
Jiang Ping, a fashion design student from a rural town, was hailed in June after she was ranked 12 in the qualifiers of an international maths contest run by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.
As per BBC, the Chinese media reported that Pong was the first finalist who came from a lowly vocational school since the competition began in 2018. The rest of the finalists, 800 in total, were from elite universities.
Ping became an overnight star after her result as some people called her a “prodigy” on social media and press.
But soon doubts started rising about her abilities and the competition organiser confirmed on Sunday (Nov 3) that she cheated in the first round of the competition by taking help from her teacher, who was also a contestant in it.
BBC reported that the organisers said in a statement, “This has exposed problems like inadequacies in the competition format and the lack of rigour in supervision. We sincerely apologise.”
According to the results announced, neither Ping nor her teacher was among the 86 winners in the competition.
Who was the mastermind?
The annual mathematics contest, hosted by Damo Academy (Alibaba’s research institute), is open to contestants from institutions across the world.
In 2024, Jiang, a student at Jiangsu Lianshui Secondary Vocational School, outperformed the rest of the finalists who were from various prestigious institutes.
Local media outlets reported that she chose the vocational school because she was interested in fashion design and her sibling along with her friends were also in the same school.
But in June, some of the finalists published a joint letter demanding an investigation into Ping’s case and to make her answers public. They alleged that she made several writing mistakes and also seemed unfamiliar with mathematical expressions and symbols.
Ping’s teacher Wang Runqiu was given a warning from the school and was disqualified from the teachers; wards of the year, BBC reported,
After the confirmed actions in the case, many people on social media said that Ping was not the only culprit in the case. She was brought into such an act by adults and now she has been forced to suffer all the consequences.
(With inputs from agencies)