The first batch of tent classrooms have been set up in the worst-hit quake zones including Mianyang and Deyang cities in southwest China's Sichuan Province, the Ministry of Education said on Monday.

At present, psychological counselling was the major theme in the classes.

The initial 300 special tents have been sent to the quake-hit areas to serve as classrooms for middle school and primary school students including children orphaned in the quake, who had been transferred to safe areas, according to the ministry.

More tents could be expected, the ministry said, as it aimed to set up such classrooms in "all quake-affected areas".

The ministry's publishing houses presented 5,500 students with new textbooks and stationery on Monday.

And a pamphlet that aimed to help the traumatized students in the quake is expected to be delivered to every quake-affected student before June 1, the ministry said.

The death toll in the 8-magnitude earthquake rose to 34,073 as of Monday noon, with another 245,108 people injured, according to the earthquake relief headquarters of the State Council.

(Xinhua News Agency May 19, 2008)