BEIJING - China's Ministry of Education reiterated its concern about cheating in the upcoming graduate school entrance exam on Thursday, warning that those caught cheating could now face criminal penalties.

An amendment to the Criminal Law, which took effect on Nov. 1, stipulates that organizing cheating, facilitating cheating or hiring others to sit state-level exams are punishable by detention or imprisonment up to seven years.

Although exam bans have been imposed on students caught cheating in sporadic cases, punishment for cheaters other than invalidating their scores was not written into the laws prior to the amendment.

Chinese college students and college graduates have to take a written examination to enter graduate school. About 1.65 million people sat the graduate school entrance examination last year. The exam is scheduled to for Dec. 26-28 this year.

The ministry publicized public hotlines for tips on cheating and other violations on Thursday, vowing no tolerance and severe penalties to violators.