Online picture of the primary school in Enshi, Central China's Hubei Province. Photo: screenshot of the website of School Nutrition Improvement Initiative

The Chinese education and public security ministries held an urgent teleconference and ordered all schools nationwide to enhance safety measures on Wednesday, two days after eight pupils died in an attack in Central China.

An ex-convict, 40, who spent more than eight years in prison for attempted murder, has been detained, police said, after eight students were killed and two injured at a school in Enshi, Hubei Province, on Monday, the first day of the new school year. 

China's ministries of education and public security called for all schools to assemble safety equipment on campus and strengthen management of security guards, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Education (MOE). 

The ministry said officers had been sent to investigate the case alongside local police. 

Experiences had to be learned, the statement noted. 

The MOE required educational authorities to conduct a comprehensive security check, investigate schools' hidden dangers and make rectifications. 

More capable security guards, like retired soldiers, young and strong adults, should be hired at schools, the statement said. 

A mature security management system should be set up first at schools, Xiong Bingqi, a deputy director of the Shanghai-based 21st Century Education Research Institute, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Security guards should be better trained by security authorities, Xiong said, noting that a sufficient budget is also needed for such a system.

It is not the first tragedy this year revealing the problem of school security. In January, 20 kids were injured by a man with a hammer in an elementary school in Beijing.


Newspaper headline: Ministries order schools to review, enhance security