SHANGHAI has published a new guideline to prevent bullying and ensure safety at kindergartens, and primary and secondary schools across the city.

The Shanghai municipal government ordered its educational authorities to prevent, promptly discover and effectively handle school bullying, including cyberbullying.

It ordered each school to have a hotline and contact person that students can turn to when bullying occurs. Schools should design guidebooks on bullying and school violence for students and raise their awareness, according to the document.

A solid protection system should be put in place to safeguard the rights of the students, it said. Zero tolerance should be given to any physical abuse, sexual harassment and illegal behavior in schools.

Shanghai has over 3,000 kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools, providing education for around 2 million students.

To better protect students from accidents and injuries, all students in preschool, and primary and secondary schools will be covered by school liability insurance, it said.

Schools and other organizations are encouraged to set up funds to supplement insurance and aid victims of injuries.

As supervisors of the education sector, government officials at the district level will be held liable for ensuring the safety of schools.

The guideline requires increased security measures when students go to school in the morning and when they leave school in the afternoon. More security guards will be hired for these hours. A 200-meter area surrounding each campus will be demarcated as the security area, it said.

School staff and students will be required to learn skills in first aid and emergency response, and a long-term mechanism to ensure food-safety needs to be established, it said. (Xinhua)