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China news tagged with: schools (8)

• 8 Students Dead, 26 Injured in Trampling

  

  Chinese media are reporting that eight students have been killed in a stampede in a school in Hunan. Few details are available. From China Daily:

  Eight students died and 26 were injured during a trampling accident at a private school in Xiangtan city, central China’s Hunan province on Monday night, Xinhua reported.

  A local publicity official said the tragedy happened at around 21:00 pm when students finished night self-study course and left classrooms. One student fell off on the stairway and caused the panic, leaving 8 dead and 26 injured, according to the official.

  See also a report from AP.

  » Read more
  • December 7, 2009 7:39 PM

• China Admits Flaws in School Construction

  

  A government report acknowledges shoddy construction of schools across the country, like those that collapsed in the May earthquake in Sichuan. In Yunnan Province alone, 20% of primary schools are structurally unsound, according to the report. From the New York Times:

  The Ministry of Education report is a rare government admission of substandard school construction. The issue has been a delicate one since the earthquake, which killed 88,000 people, many of them children crushed in shoddily built schools.

  The report called on the central government to finance the reconstruction of vulnerable schools quickly, especially those in rural areas and western parts of China that are seismically unstable. Speaking about the report, Lu Yongxiang, vice chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, said in an interview with the China News Service that Beijing would increase construction subsidies by 25 percent to 150 percent, depending on the region.

  Mr. Lu was quoted as saying that nearly 2.5 percent of all primary and middle schools in China have structural problems, on a built area equal to 360 million square feet.

  The NPC has also recently passed legislation setting stricter standards for school construction.

  In related news, a teenager from Sichuan who raised money for earthquake survivors has been invited to attend President-elect Obama’s inauguration in Washington next month. From AP:

  Li Zizi, 16, is making the trip because she participated in the Global Young Leaders Conference in New York and Washington this past summer. The program, run by a U.S.-based nonprofit, invites alumni to attend the presidential inauguration every four years.

  Li moved in August to Sichuan province, which was rocked by a 7.9-magnitude earthquake in May that left nearly 90,000 people dead or missing. She now attends the Chengdu Experimental Foreign Language School, which is close to many of the hardest-hit areas.

  Her family is from Sichuan, but she was born and raised in Japan and living there when the quake hit.

  “I was so worried, we were on the phone and on the computer dialing away and we couldn’t get through to anyone because all the phone connections were down,” she said in a phone interview Monday. “I couldn’t wait to get back and start volunteering for stuff and fundraising.”

  » Read more
  • December 30, 2008 11:20 AM

• China Sets Stricter School Construction Standards

  

  From AP:

  China’s top legislature has set stricter construction standards for schools after thousands of poorly built classrooms collapsed in May’s massive earthquake, killing many students, state media reported.

  The new law passed by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress says that all schools must now be built to higher earthquake standards than other public buildings, Xinhua News Agency reported late Saturday.

  School safety has become a major concern in China after May’s 7.9-magnitude quake killed nearly 70,000 people in Sichuan province and brought down 7,000 schools. Often schools were the only buildings in the area to fully collapse.

  The new law — which takes effect next May — also requires schools to teach students about earthquake safety and response, Xinhua said. The report did not say what penalties would be imposed if the laws were broken.

  » Read more
  • December 28, 2008 6:27 AM

• China Toughens Smoking Ban In Schools Before Games

  

  From Reuters:

  China has further tightened smoking restrictions — targeting schools and day care centres — as it extends a crackdown linked to its pledge to hold a smoke-free Olympics.

  Last month, Beijing formally pledged to restrict smoking in most public venues in the city, including government offices and public transport, beginning on May 1.

  In a separate move reported on Wednesday, China ordered primary schools, secondary schools and day care centres across the country to prohibit even designated smoking zones, an effort to promote ‘non-smoking campuses’ ahead of the Games.

  Read also China to implement complete smoking ban in schools by Xinhua.

  » Read more
  • April 9, 2008 7:00 AM

• Video: Reuters Looks at the Shichahai Sports School – Reuters

  

  Beijing Shichahai Sport School is a special school to train future Olympic champions for China. Below is a short introduction video of the school, from Reuters via Shanghaiist:

  Children as young as six-years-old are sent to special sports schools in China to be trained as future champions. The school currently coaches more than 600 students in eight sports. About half of the students pay their own way. The other half are the “professional reserves”, who have all their training, academic and accommodation expenses covered to the tune of about 30,000 yuan ($4,053) a year each. Trials are held annually to bring in new athletes to replace those who fail to make the grade. Coaches from higher levels of teams also use the measures to scout out talents. Vivi Lin reports.

  [Click to see]

  » Read more
  • January 5, 2008 3:21 PM

• China Launching Safety Check at Schools, Kindergartens – Xinhua

  

  From Xinhua via China Daily:

  Inspectors from China’s education watchdog will fan out across the country to conduct safety checkup at kindergartens, middle and primary schools. “Five inspection teams have already been set up,” a spokesman with the Ministry of Education said on Sunday.

  The inspection will focus on the overhaul of “illegal school shuttle bus” and “unqualified kindergartens,” said the spokesman, adding that dormitories, public toilets and other facilities in rural schools should be targeted to prevent trampling incidents….[Full Text]

  [Image of children via beifan.com]

  » Read more
  • September 23, 2007 8:20 AM

• China to Waive School Fees for 150m Rural Children – Jonathan Watts

  

  From Guardian Unlimited:

  China will waive tuition fees for 150 million rural children next year in an attempt to close the education gulf that has opened up between rich and poor students since the start of the country’s market reforms.

  The 15bn yuan (¬£1bn) scheme was hailed by the state media as a major element in the government’s construction of a “new socialist countryside”, but it will have to be followed by more funds if China is to shed its reputation as one of the lowest education spenders in Asia.

  Under the plan, pupils will save ¬£9-12 per year, which is a significant sum of money for rural families living on an average annual income of ¬£195. “It may not be a big sum of money for an urban family, but it can be something important for a rural one, especially one in poverty-stricken areas,” Liu Shangxi, an official with the ministry of finance, was reported as saying in the state-run China Daily.[Full Text]

  » Read more
  • December 13, 2006 10:54 AM

• China’s schools forbid photocopying of foreign textbooks – Chinaview

  

  From Chinaview via Xinhua News Agency:

  Chinese schools are not allowed to photocopy foreign textbooks after a spate of copyright infringement complaints from overseas publishers.

  “All foreign textbooks used in Chinese universities and colleges should be the original edition or the authorized domestic edition,” said a circular from the Ministry of Education during the country’s latest move to fight book piracy.

  Chinese students who have extremely limited incomes have been photocopying complete foreign textbooks recommended by teachers. A photocopied edition only costs a few dollars, and photocopy workshops always enjoy booming business around campus…. [Full Text]

  » Read more
  • November 12, 2006 10:38 AM

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