Twenty-two pupils, six under the age of 14, were forced into prostitution in the south-western province of Guizhou last year after they were taken on a trip by teachers, state media reported.

Two former teachers, a husband and wife from Xinfa town in Guizhou's Weining county, were given the death sentence and a suspended death sentence respectively last Friday.

The court also sentenced 14 others involved to prison terms ranging from one year to life.

Yesterday, the Xinhua news agency reported that two officials - Mr Xu Ruhu, head of the Weining Education Bureau, and local party chief Zhang Chunpu - had been sacked.

More than 20 other officials in Xinfa were also punished, the agency said without elaborating. At the county level, Mr Zhao Yi, head of the Weining Public Security Bureau, was reprimanded.

China yesterday announced a five-year plan to combat human trafficking.

The nationwide campaign, to begin next year, will seek to step up monitoring of the problem from the grassroots level as well as help victims, according to a circular posted on the central government's websites.

Under the plan, local government departments will be required to clamp down on illegal job markets by closing unlicensed job and marriage agencies, which often lure women and children into the sex trade and forced labour.

Transport departments must also step up monitoring at railway and bus stations, ferry docks, airports and entertainment venues to prevent women and children from being kidnapped.

Governments at all levels should also provide counselling for women and children who have been kidnapped to help them re-integrate into society.

Around 3,000 cases of women and children being abducted are reported to police each year, according to official statistics, although the true number of victims is widely believed to be far higher as many cases go unreported.

China was rocked this year by the exposure of a massive slavery and child labour scandal in which hundreds of farmers, teenagers and children were forced to work in scorching brick kilns, enduring beatings and prison-like confinement.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE