MORE than 70 percent of students from leading high schools in Shanghai who take extra lessons outside school do so voluntarily, a survey has shown.

Research by students’ union officials  found that 67 percent of those questioned took classes at cramming schools in the last semester.

The popularity of these institutions that promise to improve marks in core subjects indicates that the traditional score-oriented Chinese educational system still holds sway, said the survey.

Poll results were released at a forum of presidents of students’ unions from Shanghai model middle schools at Shanghai Shixi High School yesterday.

Between June 6 and July 18, forum researchers questioned almost 5,000 senior one and two students, covering almost all the city’s model high schools.

Of those going to cramming schools, only 23 percent said they are forced by their parents. The remaining 73 percent said they attended voluntarily.

The survey said this trend contributed to a culture of fierce competition and score-oriented evaluations, which places heavy burdens on students.

Respondents gave an average of 6.76 points when asked to assess their study burden from 0 to 10.

Many also said this impinged upon the time they got to sleep.

The reward for all these sacrifices is a place at a university of their choice, and for 88 percent of respondents, top domestic universities, such as Fudan University in Shanghai and Tsinghua University in Beijing, are their first choices.

And among those students who don’t plan to intend foreign universities, 28 percent said they were put off by costs, the poll found.

The survey also found that almost 68 percent of respondents have used smart mobile apps that provide online courses and other study aids.