BEIJING, May 16 (Reuters) - China has launched a probe into the high number of school collapses in Monday's earthquake that killed thousands of children and buried thousands more when many other buildings remained standing.

The 7.9 magnitude struck in the middle of the afternoon in the southwest province of Sichuan when most children were at their desks or taking a nap.

"If quality problems do exist in the school buildings, we will deal with the persons responsible strictly with no toleration and give the public a satisfying answer," Xinhua news agency quoted Han Jin, head of the development and planning department of the Ministry of Education, as saying.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development had ordered local authorities to investigate.

A score of high-profile cases of hundreds of children being killed instantly or buried beneath their schools by the quake centred on Sichuan's Wenchuan county has fuelled anger from parents who have accused authorities of cutting costs and failing to meet safety standards.

Bloggers and state media have also raised questions after pictures of collapsed schools surrounded by relatively unscathed buildings.

The quake was known to have destroyed 216,000 structures in Sichuan, including 6,898 school buildings, as of Wednesday, Han said, citing incomplete calculations.

Authorities fear the death toll from Monday's quake could exceed 50,000 as a rescue force of 130,000 troops frantically searched for survivors on Friday. (Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Nick Macfie and Sanjeev Miglani)

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