About 4 million computers at all the 1,500-some local primary and secondary schools will be equipped with newly developed software that blocks access to online pornography by the end of this month.

The Shanghai Education Commission has ordered local schools to equip computers used by students on campus with the "Green Dam Youth Escort" software to protect them from pornographic pictures or text online, officials said yesterday.

This is part of the Chinese Ministry of Education's nationwide plan to install all schools' computers with software that can block access to porn and "vulgar" content.

"We will carry out inspections to make sure the software is installed," said Chen Haiqiang, director of the Shanghai Education Commission's information office.

Some schools had already installed firewalls on computers to deny access to pornographic Websites.

This is the first time the commission has issued specific rules on all schools' management and technology of computers, Chen said.

"Professional skills are needed to install the software," Chen said. "So it will be difficult for students to remove."

About 48 percent of teenagers have visited porn Websites, a survey released by the Chinese Youth Research Center claimed last month.

(Shanghai Daily June 12, 2009)