Local schools that have Internet cafes on campus or report criminal cases won't be allowed to take part in a citywide competition to be named as "Secure and Civilized Campus," local officials said yesterday.
The competition, organized by the Shanghai Education Commission and the Shanghai Public Security Bureau, will be held among all local schools every two years beginning this year.
Schools that win the title will be given a cash award, but officials didn't say how large the award will be.
Local schools where serious criminal cases occur - including murder, robbery, rape, arson, explosions, burglary and drug use or trafficking - will be immediately disqualified from the competition, officials said.
Campus accidents such as mass food poisoning, school building collapse and fires will also prevent schools from getting the secure campus title.
The title also won't be awarded to schools with commercial Internet cafes, game parlors and dancing halls on campus, officials said.
"The biggest goal for this new knock-out system is to guarantee a safe study environment for young students," said Wu Junying, director of the municipal government's campus environment management team.
Applications for the first batch of schools with secure and civilized campus must be filed by the end of this year, team officials said.
The safety condition on local campuses is not satisfactory at present as more than 600 criminal cases were reported in the first eight months of this year, according to the Youth Daily.
The paper said there were more theft and fight reports, compared with the same period last year, owing to  poor campus security.
In February multiple student dormitory rooms at Fudan University in Yangpu District were entered by thieves over a two-day stretch.
Cash and valuables worth several thousand yuan in total were stolen from the students apartments, which allegedly had unlocked balcony doors, offering easy access to burglars.
The increasing number of students who rent apartments off campus is also to blame for the frequent occurrence of theft and robbery, authority said.
"Alarmed by recent campus incidents at home and abroad, we introduced the new evaluation system, aiming at increasing the safety index of local schools and preventing possible violence on campus," police officials said yesterday.