The Chinese Ministry of Education has asked local administrative departments in charge of education to instruct and supervise schools in putting into effect the responsibility system of security and warned that neglect leading to serious accident will be punished.
The ministry recently issued a circular urging the intensification of campus security in the backdrop that 95 students and four villagers were killed and 10 others still missing from a flash flood that slammed into a northeast China primary school on the afternoon of June 10.
The circular, a 6-point measure, says that schools must give students security education and offer emergency training to help students save and protect themselves in the case of flooding, mud-rock flows, fires and earthquakes.
The Ministry asked all departments concerned to have an examination of school buildings and geological conditions. Any geological dangers must be reported to local governments for proper treatment and school authorities must stop using classrooms with lurking dangers or even suspend class if necessary.
Schools must also check the conditions of school buses and the qualifications of school bus drivers every semester, the circular says.
Nobody is allowed to produce and sell flammable, explosive, poisonous and dangerous products on school campuses, nor conduct any other activity that might endanger students.
(Xinhua News Agency June 16, 2005)
