"Student safety is the priority of all the teachers in China,"
said Minister of Education Zhou Ji at the ceremony held to
inaugurate a program to teach kids self-defense.
Going to and from school -- and even on school grounds -- kids
and youth have increasingly fallen victim to robbery, threats and
violence, as well as sexual assaults, during the past couple of
years.
Some students in higher grades fight in gangs, sometimes joining
up with drifters and other unsavory people outside school,
according to Liu Boyao, a fifth grader at Beijing Yucai School.
The youngster said, "I sincerely hope it will end soon with help
from policemen, teachers and the whole society."
The program, launched by the Ministry of Education and the
Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China, will have
tutors create simulations of possible scenarios, like robberies,
and lead the students through rapid and proper responses.
The program is scheduled to continue for a year. Specialists
such as medical personnel, lawyers and firefighters will be invited
to participate.
Local educational administrations are also asked to analyze the
incidents around their campuses in the past year and strengthen
security in the surrounding areas.
A team of experts organized by the Ministry of Education will be
dispatched to track the progress of the program at various
localities.
China initiated Safety Education Day for Children and Youth in
1996. It is held on the last Monday of every March.
(Xinhua News Agency March 30, 2004)