The provincial government of Jiangxi in East China will dispatch 10 investigation teams to carry out safety check-ups in local schools after a trampling accident that left six students dead and 39 others injured in the province over the weekend.

 

The investigators, consisting of officials and experts from the provincial departments of education, public security, health, culture, communication, judiciary, safety supervision and press administration, will make on-the-spot investigations in primary and middle schools of the province's 11 major cities from November 22 to November 28, according to a source with the provincial government.

 

The investigators will check the safety of school buildings, look at teachers' qualifications, see whether education fees are used properly, and whether schools have recruited too many students.

 

They will investigate publicly and privately by interviewing students and teachers, viewing school records and making on-the-spot check-ups.

 

Schools that do not meet standards will be given a fixed period in which to carry out the necessary improvements, according to the governmental source.

 

Six middle school students were trampled to death and 39 others were injured, including 11 who were seriously injured, in a stampede at a school in Jiangxi Province last Saturday evening.

 

The stampede occurred at around 8:30 PM when hundreds of first-grade students at Tutang Middle School in Duchang County swarmed out of their evening classes and onto the stairway.

 

The injured students are receiving treatment in Jiujiang No. 1 People's Hospital.

 

One of the 10 investigation teams will go to Tutang Middle School to probe the exact cause of the trampling accident, according to government sources.

 

The Chinese government will also tighten safety provisions in elementary and secondary schools after the trampling accident in Jiangxi Province.

 

Local education departments should conduct thorough inspections of corridors and stairways and check school buildings, canteens, dormitories and bathrooms, Education Minister Zhou Ji said Monday at a teleconference on school administration.

 

The ministry would evaluate the work of school principals, who play a key role in safety and have ultimate responsibility for safety, Zhou said.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 22, 2006)