Education ministry refuses to give toll
The Ministry of Education pledged yesterday to crack down hard on anybody responsible for shoddy school buildings in the wake of the May 12 earthquake but refused to say how many staff and students died in the flimsy structures.
Spokesman Wang Xuming said the ministry had ordered safety assessments of all school buildings on the mainland, with special focus on buildings in quake-affected areas.
'The ministry plans to work with construction administrations to organise experts to assess school buildings in quake areas, and immediately stop the use of substandard or dangerous classrooms,' Mr Wang said.
He said the cost of evacuating and relocating the students would 'be undertaken by educational administrations at various levels and by the central government'.
Mr Wang said regulators were working on new construction standards for greater quake resistance, based on the principle that all new classrooms should be built to higher standards than civic buildings.
The ministry has also drafted a temporary classroom plan for students and teachers to resume classes in shelters and tents. Educational official Gao Hong said half of the elementary and middle schools in the hardest-hit areas were back in class.
