State Councilor Liu Yandong has urged accelerating school reconstruction in the quake areas and working for stable life and mind among the teachers and students there.

Liu made the remarks Friday when meeting with a delegation of teachers from some of the worst-hit regions of the May 12 earthquake, including counties of Beichuan and Wenchuan in southwest China's Sichuan Province and Ningqiang County of northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

Liu praised the teachers' efforts in ensuring students' safety when the 8.0-magnitude earthquake struck.

She said that in the face of aftershocks and secondary disasters, top priority should still be given to protecting the life safety of the students and teachers in the quake regions.

Conditions must be created for the resumption of classes and psychological counseling for students there should be actively carried out, she said.

The May 12 quake had killed 69,136 people nationwide as of Sunday noon, the State Council Information Office said.

A total of 374,061 people were injured and 17,686 others remain missing after the quake jolted Sichuan and neighboring regions.

(Xinhua News Agency June 9, 2008)