(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-05-26 23:40

BEIJING - China's educational departments will investigate the construction quality of schools in quake-stricken areas and severely punish those responsible for substandard school construction.

"The ministry ordered the country's educational sector to strictly check school constructions, especially in disaster areas and regions susceptible to quakes," Ministry of Education spokesman Wang Xuming told a press conference here on Monday.

He said an official of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development had admitted that "substandard buildings cannot be excluded from factors leading to the extensive collapse".

"Those that could not meet safety standards must cease to be used," said Wang, adding the massive magnitude of the Sichuan Province quake, unprecedented in the history of the People's Republic of China, was one of the key reasons that caused the widespread collapse of schools.

Wang said the magnitude of the May 12 quake is much higher than the national standards set on civil buildings and that "reasons behind the collapses were mixed".

"We will cooperate with investigations by other authorities. If investigations show that shoddy work were responsible for the collapse of any school buildings, the offenders will be severely punished," he said.

Wang stressed relevant departments were already considering new and higher quake-resistance standards for school buildings. "A fundamental rule is that school buildings shall have higher quake-resistance standards than normal buildings."

Quake-hit areas have begun to draw up plans for the rebuilding of schools. Wang said the Ministry of Education will work with the the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and other authorities to ensure that "school buildings will be the strongest and safest structures".