BEIJING - China's Ministry of Finance Tuesday announced an injection of 3.89 billion yuan ($584.11 million) from the central budget this year to strengthen school buildings.

The one-off allocation would be granted to schools providing nine-year compulsory education and used only for purposes such as improving safety and fireproofing facilities, and reinforcing walls and gates, said a statement on the Ministry of Finance website.

Provincial finance departments should give priority to schools in disaster-prone and rural areas, while local education departments were urged to strengthen safety inspections, said the statement.

The move aimed to strengthen building safety in primary and secondary schools, said the statement.

Along with inspections of all 338,000 primary and secondary schools conducted from May to October 2009, a "safety record" for all school buildings was established, according to the Ministry of Education.

A three-year nationwide project began in May 2009 to reinforce school buildings against disasters such as earthquakes, landslides, floods and typhoons.

The quality of school buildings in southwest China's Sichuan Province was a major grievance among parents who lost children in the devastating 8-magnitude quake on May 12, 2008.