The Chinese government has announced the launch of an initiative to ensure the safety of school buildings.
At an executive meeting presided over by Chinese premier Wen Jiabao, agreement was reached that school building safety is closely related to the safety of students and their teachers as well as social stability. It was agreed that the Chinese government will spend three years to eradicate any unsafe elements in school buildings vulnerable to natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and landslides. Besides, other school buildings in danger shall also be rebuilt to remove any latent problems.
The funding needed for the project will be split between the local and central governments. To date the central government has set up a CNY8 billion special fund in support of school building projects in earthquake hit areas in the middle and west of China and areas prone to natural disasters.
The meeting also requested that a database be set up on the safety status of all school buildings.
The meeting stressed that the school buildings projects shall be supervised by the public and standards, construction measures, construction process, and results shall be published. All these construction works would be put out to public tender and exposed to social and media supervision to eradicate parents' concerns and to build schools as safe places.
