China allocates 5 bln yuan to improve school building safety

The Chinese government has allocated 5 billion yuan (770 million U.S. dollars) in a special fund to improve the safety of primary and junior high school buildings, the Ministry of Finance said Thursday.

The fund will be mainly used to support the building renovation projects in rural areas in the country's central and western regions prone to geological disasters, said a statement on the ministry's website.

The statement said the central government has budgeted a total of 14 billion yuan on a nationwide three-year project aimed at reinforcing school buildings against disasters such as earthquakes, landslides, floods and typhoons. The project began in 2009.

Data shows China has nearly 400,000 primary and junior high schools, with the number of school buildings topping 2 million. The statement said the safety of these buildings concerns the lives of nearly 200 million students and 13 million teachers.

Source: Xinhua

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