OPINION> Commentary
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OPINION> Commentary
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Safety norms for schools
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-06-12 07:48 To ensure the success of the program to check the safety of school buildings across the country, we need to first of all lay down a good inspection plan, says an article in Beijing News. The following is an excerpt: The regulations on the reconstruction in quake areas issued by the State Council clearly stipulated that the anti-quake facilities of public buildings such as schools should be of a higher level than for other local buildings. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development also issued a joint circular in recent days, deciding to check potential risks of school buildings across the country. Unsafe school buildings should be repaired on time. For those built with a poor quality due to violations of national laws and regulations, the leaders in charge of the buildings should be held accountable. It is the right time for us to check the construction quality of schools across the country. Two aspects should be considered in this round of checks of school buildings. One is to ensure the "comprehensiveness", which means every school, every building in the school, especially in the remote areas, should be carefully checked by the inspectors. The other is to make sure fairness, which means the safety inspectors, who are educational officials at different levels and are at the same time in charge of construction of schools across the country, must be able to fairly check the buildings and pick up those that fall short of the quality. Obviously, we need to map out a scientific plan in the checking system. For example, it is important to put in place a system in order to avoid situations in which local educational officials are entrusted with checking the safety of buildings built under their own supervision. The results of the inspections must be released to the public on time. A strict system is more reliable than human beings. (China Daily 06/12/2008 page8) |
