Thousands of students still out of school in quake-hit Chile

"There are 33 days left before the deadline that allows all students back to school; there are 590,000 students who still cannot attend school, and we are going to do everything for them," Lavin said during the inauguration of the new school term in Santiago, Chile's capital.

About 80 percent of students in Maule and 75 percent in Bio Bio still can't attend school, Lavin said.

Meanwhile, in the O'Higgins region, the school year was delayed for about 25 percent of the students. Since last week, 250,000 students have returned to schools across the country.

Undersecretary of Regional Development Miguel Flores urged that the municipalities should set up a reconstruction fund for schools, Kazinform cites Xinhua. See www.xinhuanet.com for full version.