Up to 30 per cent of school buildings in Guangdong fail to meet national standards for earthquake resistance. An inspection still under way had found at least 110,000, at more than 34,000 schools, did not make the grade, the official Nanfang Daily newspaper reported yesterday. Most were in the least developed parts of the province, including Chaozhou , Jieyang and Maoming . These are among the most earthquake-prone areas in the province. The survey findings were released at a meeting of provincial education officials called to discuss how to improve the safety of buildings. It is not known how many children attend the substandard schools. Guangdong's education bureau is inspecting all the province's schools, after which it will map out how to improve the buildings. Education officials said inspections would be completed this month. School buildings beyond repair would be pulled down and rebuilt by April 2011. A department spokeswoman said it was too early to tell how much the exercise would cost. Chang Qing, a professor of urban planning at Shanghai's Tongji University, said the problem occurred because government inspectors did not monitor construction of schools in poorer areas. 'I am not surprised that a large number of school buildings failed to meet safety standards. Many school buildings in rural areas are not up to scratch,' he said. The inspection is part of a national push to improve school building safety after last year's Sichuan earthquake. In April, the State Council announced a three-year drive to improve school safety in areas threatened by natural disaster. The central government will spend 8 billion yuan (HK$9 billion) this year to strengthen school buildings. Local governments will also contribute. The government says 5,335 schoolchildren were among the 87,000-plus people killed in the magnitude-8 Sichuan quake in May last year. Activists believe many more pupils died and survivors complained about 'tofu buildings' - most of them schools - that collapsed when surrounding buildings did not. Authorities have consistently blamed the intensity of the quake, not shoddy buildings, for the number of schoolchildren killed. A study by the Key Laboratory of Environmental Change and Natural Disaster at Beijing Normal University, ranked Guangzhou the 25th most earthquake-prone city on the mainland. Jiangmen , Chaozhou and Shantou are the most vulnerable cities in the province. Shaken up Inspectors are checking the safety of all schools after last year's Sichuan earthquake Many schools collapsed in the quake and, though activists claim many more pupils were killed, the government insists the figure is only: 5,335