Poverty alleviation and school disputes on agenda

Crackdown on disruptive school accident protests

Government departments must crack down on acts that disrupt school order and undermine the law-based settlement of disputes over school accidents, according to a guideline released on August 20.

Jointly issued by five departments, including the Ministry of Education, the Supreme People's Court and the Ministry of Public Security, it said such acts, usually committed by students' families in disputes over school-related accidents, include attacking people, intentionally damaging public property, putting up banners on school grounds, blocking school gates and stalking school officials.

Deng Chuanhuai, director of the Ministry of Education's Department of Policies and Regulations, told a news conference such behavior had affected the quality of education and the education environment.

The guideline said that when schools are responsible for accidents, they should pay compensation to the victims in a timely manner according to the law, but no money should be paid to settle disputes until the responsibilities of different parties had been clarified.