China's police forces nationwide were ordered Saturday to step up security of kindergartens and schools after a spate of violent attacks against school children.

An emergency circular issued by the Ministry of Public Security also called for harsh punishments of criminals who attacked school children in order to deter potential attackers.

It ordered all necessary measures be taken against school attackers in accordance with the law to stop a crime in progress.

The ministry instructed police to work with courts and prosecutors to handle such cases swiftly.

Police must also work with education authorities to comprehensively screen all campuses and their surrounding areas for security risks.

Small hotels, Internet cafes, and recreational sites adjacent to schools must be subject to intensive security checks, said the circular.

The circular ordered stronger security patrols in and around school campuses at the beginning and the end of school days, and in schools situated in risk-prone communities.

In at-risk schools, police posts would be set up.

Schools were urged to tighten identity checks at entrances, hire security guards, and install security alarms and closed circuit television cameras on campus.

The ministry asked police to closely monitor people who were inclined to threaten public security and to increase monitoring of dangerous items and materials, including knives.

The circular followed a string of violent attacks against school children in the past week.

On Friday, five kindergarten class children and a teacher were injured when a man attacked them with a hammer before killing himself at a school in Weifang City, east China's Shandong Province.

On Thursday, 29 children and three adults were injured by a man armed with knife at the Zhongxin Kindergarten in Taixing City, in eastern Jiangsu Province.

And 16 children and a teacher at a primary school in Guangdong Province were attacked Wednesday.