Despite a significant drop, 43 students were killed in criminal acts at schools across China. The Ministry of Public Security's public order management bureau received 103 criminal case reports during the first half of 2006, involving 43 deaths.

The ministry said more than 50 percent of the student deaths were caused by student conflicts with most the result of knife fights.

China's police investigated 36,648 school crimes in the first nine months of the year, down 8.16 percent over the same period of last year, the Ministry of Public Security said on Thursday.

Despite this grim news, the overall picture is encouraging with looting, robbery and assaults down by 38.9 percent, 17.1 percent and 13.8 respectively year-on-year.

The ministry has stationed more than 102,000 police and 32,000 security posts on and around campuses nationwide to stem school violence.

(Xinhua News Agency October 13, 2006)