The Chinese Central Government has spent 18 billion yuan ($2.75 billion) over the past two years renovating and consolidating buildings at 65,000 middle and primary schools across the country, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said on Monday.

In a statement on its official website, the MOF said that the completed school buildings, involving a total floor area of 170 million square meters, would benefit about 50 million schoolchildren.

The Chinese government launched a three-year special campaign in 2009 to enhance the aseismatic capability of school buildings, or relocate the schools currently located in earthquake- and other disaster-prone areas.

China has about 400,000 middle and primary schools and more than 2 million school buildings for 200 million students and 13 million teaching staff.

Last month, Yu Weiyue, an official with the Ministry of Education, said that fewer students died or suffered injuries in drowning incidents, traffic accidents or building collapses in 2010, after the ministry required installing warning systems to alert schools of imminent or present dangers such as earthquakes, landslides and other natural disasters.

Yu gave no specific numbers to illustrate this assertion but warned that the task of ensuring the security of campuses is growing increasingly difficult in the wake of several violent crimes committed against students.

He urged schools to spend more on security equipment and to increase the number of campus guards.

The Ministry of Education declared last year that maintaining campus security and protecting students would be a top political task for the country in the future.

(Xinhua News Agency April 11, 2011)