The Ministry of Education has issued an urgent notice, prohibiting elementary and middle schools from organizing students to participate in commercial celebration activities and performances during the winter vacation.

The notice, issued Wednesday, also ordered schools to give students security lectures and help enhance their ability to defend themselves.

It urged schools to remind students of the traffic and food security and to teach them knowledge and skills preventing fire, flood, mud-rock flow, earthquake and other natural disasters.

It also asked local educational authorities to watch more closely over campus safety ahead of the incoming Spring Festival, especially the security of dormitories, laboratories and computer rooms.

Schools are required to store dangerous chemicals safely and cut off power supply in places that are closed during the vacation to prevent fires, as most students and teachers will leave for holidays.

Slack school officials will be punished if their dereliction of duty leads to any severe accidents or criminal cases on campus during the vacation, the notice said.

(Xinhua News Agency February 4, 2005)