Three weeks after China's devastating earthquake the authorities have taken steps to alleviate the suffering of bereaved families, but also moved to prevent growing criticism of the state for the high proportion of pupils killed in their classrooms.

Many of the children orphaned could end up being adopted by parents who lost children in the quake, according to guidelines issued by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the provincial government. About 1,869 children were orphaned by the tremor, and another 9,000 were killed in collapsed schools.

The first aim will be to find homes for the children with any surviving relatives, according to the guidelines. Those from local ethnic minority groups, such as the mountain-living Qiang or Tibetans, will be found homes that will ensure the minimum of disruption as well as respect for their religious traditions.

Parents who have lost their children in the tremor will be considered first for adopting orphans whose family members cannot be found. This will help to ensure that the children remain in villages or towns as close as possible to where they once lived. Children aged 10 and over will be consulted to obtain their agreement in any adoption.

The imaginative solution, however, has been coupled by a crackdown by the authorities in southwestern Sichuan province against parents who blame poorly built schools for their children's death. Yesterday police blocked access to several collapsed schools after angry parents tried to demonstrate beside the rubble or outside local government offices.

At the Juyuan Middle School, where more than 270 students were crushed to death, a cordon of police now blocks parents and journalists from the site. Notices give warning against illegal gatherings.

A day earlier parents who gathered outside a courthouse to demand justice for their children, whose deaths they blame on shoddy construction, were dispersed forcibly by the police. It was the first sign of tough action by the security authorities against distraught parents who have been holding impromptu gatherings and memorial services to vent their anger.

The deaths of the students, most of them single children born under China's “one couple, one child” family planning policy, has become a focus in China, fuelling accusations of corruption in the building of schools.

Anguished parents have noted the steel rods in broken concrete slabs that were thinner than a ballpoint pen among the 7,000 classrooms that collapsed. Such buildings where cement was often diluted so that officials and construction companies could skim off more profits, are known widely as “tofu dregs” in China.

Compensation is being offered to some bereaved families. Each parent who lost an only child is to receive £75 a year. But many feel that they have nothing left to lose and are showing little fear of the security apparatus.

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