The central government has taken the unprecedented step of giving children across the country a special lesson on their first day of school—how to survive natural disasters.
This comes in the wake of the devastating Sichuan earthquake in May, which left 88,000 people dead or missing. In response, Beijing ordered China Central Television to produce a programme to teach students how to survive during emergencies.
The First Lesson of the Beginning of the School Term, will be aired on CCTV tonight and is required viewing for all mainland school students.
The Ministry of Education has also instructed all primary and secondary schools to implement each safety measure presented in the programme and to plan for any contingency. "After the school term opens, schools have to focus on carrying out safety education and safety drills," the ministry said.
A Beijing-based journalism scholar welcomed the move, saying China had never before made a programme specifically on disaster prevention and escape.
"In the past, we had a lack of disaster preventive measures," he said. "Now I think the Sichuan quake finally brought some positive changes because the death toll, especially among students, was just too high ..."