Schools spread the word in fight against terrorism

Kunming residents pay their respects to the victims of the March 1 attack in the city. Provided to China Daily

Rising concerns

Awareness of terrorism and personal safety should be regular parts of the curriculum, according to Gui, who added that the program will provide details of how to best maintain public security, but would not point fingers at any particular group in society. "The purpose is to help students gain a better understanding of anti-terrorism work, not to aggravate conflicts," he said.

The scene of a knife attack in Changsha, Hunan province. Six people died in the incident. Provided to China Daily

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Given that concerns about further attacks have surfaced nationwide, that may be easier said than done. Even as people were digesting the news of the Kunming atrocity, news broke of another knife attack, this time in Changsha in the central province of Hunan. A dispute between two market stallholders developed into a fight in which one of the vendors killed the other. The murderer then attacked and killed four innocent bystanders, before he was shot dead by the police. Although the local authorities stressed that the incident was not linked to terrorism, the fact that the protagonists were both members of the Uygur ethnic group, like the perpetrators of the Kunming attack, triggered disquiet and concerns about public safety.

On March 14, unfounded rumors of a knife attack in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, resulted in chaotic scenes in the city's downtown area. The following day, in an attempt to distract pursuers, a pickpocket in a shopping mall in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, shouted out that a knife attack was under way, resulting in confusion and fears of a repeat of the Kunming attack.

"In the past, terrorism as a concept was far from familiar in China, but now it has come and it's time to take action," said Zhao Guangwu, director of the School Security Office at Yunnan Education Department.

Anti-terrorism and personal safety education in schools will be promoted by the authorities from the provincial to the local level in the coming months, he said. Meanwhile, a campaign to promote an educational program for primary and secondary school students has been launched in a number of cities and provinces, including Zhejiang, Guangxi and Guangdong.

Many of the schools have chosen to use role-playing as a means of driving the message home and helping the children to remember fundamental safety procedures. At Dongxin Kindergarten in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang, for example, security guards pretended to be terrorists intent on kidnapping a child, while the teachers called the police, mobilized the students and led them to "safety".

At the end of the month, Chengdu will promote a terrorism awareness program in every kindergarten and primary and secondary school in the city, according to a report in the Chengdu Business Daily. Two e-books - Details of Self-protection in a Terrorist Attack and Survival Skills in a Terrorist Attack - have already been uploaded onto a website for the city's students, who have to key in their personal identification code to access the material.

Student safety

Zhou Zibo, a fourth-grader at Kunming Normal College Affiliated Primary School, became aware of the word "terrorism" for the first time after the knife attack at the city's railway station. "I was scared when I watched the news report at home with my parents. I was frightened by the pictures of the injured and the heartbroken families of the victims," said the 9-year-old. "But my parents told me that the bad guys will be punished eventually."

Liu Chunwei, the president of Zhou's school, said the 2,300 students had attended a 45-minute lecture on March 3, where they were given a briefing about the attack and were also instructed in basic survival skills to help them cope in the event of an attack. A year ago, the school purchased and fitted an alarm system linked to the local police station.

Awareness of terrorism, with a special focus on personal safety, has now been listed as an important part of the monthly meetings between class tutors and parents. "One important thing I was taught was to run away if an attack occurs and if we have the chance, we should call the police immediately," Zhou said.

Cui Yongyuan, a well-known anchor on China Central Television, said at the recently concluded Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference that the best thing for individuals to do in the event of a terrorist attack is to call the police. "I don't think anything is more effective than that," he said.