By staff reporter Li Wei Ao

September 1 marks the beginning of the fall semester in China, and as students across the nation head back to school, that the Ministry of Education (MOE) still has not released the number of pupils who died in the massive earthquake on May 12 seems newly conspicuous.

Sichuan provincial government held a press conference on August 31, the forty-fourth such conferences since the quake ravaged Sichuan Province and the surrounding area. In total, more than 3 million students in the affected areas will return to classrooms this September, and in two years the restoration of devastated schools will to be completed, said provincial education officials.

At present, more than 8,081 students from earthquake-affected areas are attending schools outside of Sichuan, the province hit hardest by the disaster. The students receive subsidies for living expenses and education from the host regions, places such as Guangdong and Shanghai.

In addition, 644 injured students are in Russia for medical treatment, and another 50 temporarily staying in Hungary.

Tu Wentao, director of Sichuan Education Bureau, said he will not allow "any student to drop out of school due to the disaster."

However, when Caijing asked about students death toll during the earthquake, Tu said local education agency reports number daily to Sichuan earthquake relief headquarters and MOE, but releasing the statistics will be a "coordinated action" by "relevant agencies."