Education ministry dispatches task force after knife attack

The Ministry of Education is looking into a knife attack involving a man who stabbed 39 people at a primary school in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region on Thursday, according to a circular released Friday.

The circular on the ministry's website said Minister of Education Chen Baosheng and the Vice-Minister of Education Zheng Fuzhi had made the quick decision to send a task force to the area to oversee the investigation as well as treat the injured.

The task force left for Wuzhou, Guangxi on Friday, the circular said, adding they would address public concerns and launch a campaign to rule out dangers in the neighborhood of the school in question.

According to Beijing News, the man armed with a knife attacked people in the Wangfuzhen Township Central Primary school at about 8 am, injuring the school's vice-president, a security guard and multiple students.

The attacker was later brought under control by police, and the injured were sent to a local hospital, the newspaper said.

In the wake of the attack, central authorities issued an emergency circular, urging all provinces to learn lessons from the attack and strengthen oversight in an effort to ensure teaching order and faculty safety.