What’s new: Chinese education and public security ministries have sent a joint team to investigate a stabbing that left 40 young students and staff wounded, three critically, at an elementary school in Southwest China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, according to a statement released by the education ministry on Friday.
The stabbing happened at about 8:30 on Thursday morning at the Wangfu Central Elementary School in the town of Wangfu. The alleged attacker, Li Xiaoming, was a 50-year-old security guard who worked at the school. The three critically injured included the school’s principal, as well as a security guard and a student.
The background: The incident came as schools in Guangxi have been gradually reopening after months of online education at the height of the coronavirus outbreak.
Last September, the education supervision office of the State Council, China’s cabinet, issued an urgent circular asking education authorities, kindergartens, and primary and secondary schools across the country to strengthen campus safety measures, according to a report from state-owned newspaper China Daily.
Such attacks are relatively uncommon, but do occasionally occur at Chinese schools and often attract national attention.
Contact reporter Lu Zhenhua (zhenhualu@caixin.com) and editor Yang Ge (geyang@caixin.com)
