The Ministry of Health has sent experts to universities in the quake-hit areas of southwestern Sichuan Province to provide counseling courses.

The experts will train teachers and students in the cities of Mianyang, Deyang and Chengdu so that they can offer psychological comfort to their colleagues and classmates, according to the ministry.

The first group of experts came from Peking, Tsinghua, Nanjing and three other universities. After they arrived on May 23, they provided counseling to students at Sichuan Architecture Vocational College in Deyang and Southwest University of Science and Technology in Mianyang, both of which lost teachers and students in the earthquake on May 12.

Since their arrival, the experts had delivered lectures to more than 300 teachers, 2,100 counselors and 500 students and volunteers, the ministry said.

Videos of the training courses will be distributed to all universities in Sichuan to help students and teachers who were affected by the quake.

(Xinhua News Agency May 25, 2008)