Take Swimming Test Online, University In China Tells Students: Report

After China's Shanghai University announced their move the swimming test online amid the COVID-19 outbreak, netizens went into a meme fest, with one of the students donning swimming goggles and a hat to jump from his nightstand onto the bed to enact swimming moves.

The Dean's office at the Chinese university on May 15 announced that the final swimming test for the senior graduating college students could be done online, which was heavily mocked by the netizens, including users of TikTok, pretending to be students preparing for the test, a US-based media outlet Washington Examiner reported.

One of the users joked and asked whether the test was a new reality version of "surfing the web."

Joining the hilarious meme fest, another jokingly asked whether swimming in the bathtub at home would be allowed instead.

Furthermore, one of the Twitter users can also be seen as working on a laptop in a swimming pool while donning swimming glasses.

Students completing their bachelor's degrees at most prestigious Chinese universities are required to take a 50-meter swim test to graduate. This latest move by China has raised eyebrows with many cracking jokes and wondering whether it is a swim or a sink test.

An unnamed staffer from the dean's office said that the decision to move the test online was due to a wave of COVID-19 cases that forced the city into lockdown on April 1.

The staffer told the Chinese publication Jimu, "The classes and facilities including the swimming pool at the university are suspended under the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown. To ensure the students can graduate, we decided to conduct the swimming test online,"

Notably, China's Zero-COVID policy has drawn severe criticism from across the world. Shanghai residents have been protesting from their windows, banging pots and pans and shouting in frustration, others even clashed with police and health workers in the streets -- a rare scene in a country where dissent is routinely suppressed.

Leaked social media videos have also exposed the harsh reality of China's infamous Zero-COVID policy. Practically, two viral videos have raised eyebrows and drawn criticism across the globe.

One of the viral videos is from Shanghai where people are seen screaming from their balconies at home. Shanghai, the financial capital of the country, has reported over 20,000 cases per day.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)