Tragedy leads to calls for school safety_美文_趣味英语-查字典英语网

Tragedy leads to calls for school safety

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After the wall of a building collapsed and killed three primary school students and injured six others on Wednesday in Sichuan province, education experts, teachers and parents said not enough is being done to protect schoolchildren.

The fatal incident happened during the demolition of a building directly neighboring a primary school in Luzhou, Sichuan province, China News Service reported. Before it was torn down, the building was higher than the school's walls.

Several students, most of whom were second-graders between 7 and 9, were struck by falling debris from the demolition as they were cleaning the school grounds. Local authorities are investigating the incident.

In a similar case on Oct 23, the wall of a primary school in Zhenxiong county, Yunnan province, collapsed, killing two students and injuring four.

Chu Zhaohui, a senior researcher on education at the National Institute of Education Sciences, said the schoolchildren in both incidents did not get enough protection from adults, including parents, teachers and school authorities.

"Campus security is a broad concept, and for a long time we have concentrated more on the security of school buildings, such as the safety of classrooms and dormitories, and have ignored the children's safety in activities on and around campus," Chu said.

"The tragedies should not have happened if there had been an adult warning these students of nearby dangers and had asked them to stay away from the walls," said Chu, who added that there should have been at least a sign warning students not to go near the demolition.