China steps up school security

After knife attacks:

CHINA: Authorities across China have ordered stepped-up security at schools and increased police patrols near campuses after a wave of knife attacks targeting children, reports said Friday.

Schools in several provinces have been ordered to employ full-time security staff, prevent all unauthorised visitors from entering school grounds, and devise emergency evacuation plans, the reports said. The measures come after three knife attacks at schools by mentally disturbed adults that killed eight children and left dozens of people injured.

"A systematic approach should be taken to school security. It is not a matter to be dealt with on an ad-hoc basis," the People's Daily, the ruling Communist Party's main mouthpiece, said Friday in a commentary. "Education departments and police should jointly come up with a long-term, systematic approach."

The police bureau of the central province of Henan ordered increased patrols near schools and stepped up investigations of cybercafes, video-game halls and other "malignant" entertainment venues near schools, the province's Dahe News reported. In the southwestern municipality of Chongqing, authorities ordered better monitoring of people known to be suffering from mental illnesses who are living near schools, reports said.

BEIJING, Friday, AFP