China media: Anger over MH370 'accident' declaration

Papers say the families of the passengers of the missing flight MH370 are angry and want Malaysia to "honour its promise" of finding the plane.

No trace of the Beijing-bound aircraft has been found since it disappeared on 8 March 2014.

The Malaysian government on Thursday officially declared the disappearance of the flight an accident and said there were no survivors.

Officials say that the recovery operation is ongoing but that the 239 people, including 153 Chinese nationals, onboard are now presumed dead.

The declaration on Thursday should allow compensation payments to relatives of the victims.

Most Chinese-language dailies have reported Malaysia's announcement, while focussing on the compensation procedure.

The English-language dailies, however, have taken note of the "angry" responses from the families of the victims.

According to the Global Times, the family members "were angry about the declaration, requesting the Malaysian Embassy staff [in Beijing] at the scene to provide more facts".

Making no mention of the anger, the People's Daily says that China has put in efforts to find the plane, and stresses that the "search for the countrymen will continue".

"In the vast ocean of misty waters, the country will continue to put in 100% efforts even if there was just a glimmer of hope," says the descriptive editorial.

The flagship paper under the Communist Party adds that the incident has proved that China is a "responsible nation on the rise".

"Declaring the incident as an accident does not mean the search has been called off. China will continue to co-operate with other countries to search and investigate… More than 150 countrymen are still missing, we have not forgotten them," says the paper.

Echoing similar sentiments, the Xinhua news agency states that "the quest for the missing plane should not stop".

Urging the Malaysian government to "honour its promises" to continue the hunt for the wreckage, the state-run media adds that the families of the passengers and crew members on board the plane "still deserve an answer".

"Even Malaysia Airlines, which suffered a series of setbacks and boycotts after the accident, needs to strive to prove that its planes are still safe," says the news agency.

Elsewhere, teachers have been sternly warned against "badmouthing" state leaders in front of the students.

Yuan Guiren, the education minister, said on Thursday that teachers should "defend the political, legal and moral systems," the Xinhua reports.

"We must forbid materials that spread Western values from entering our classrooms. We must also not allow any speech attacking the leaders, smearing socialism, and going against the constitution and law in the classrooms," the minister warns.

He adds that teachers "should not grumble, air their grievances and spread their negative emotions among their students".

Earlier media reports suggested that some university professors were "being scornful of China".

Backing the minister, a commentary in the Liberation Daily highlights that political parties have also "infiltrated" the "the so-called free and independent universities in the West".

"In some schools, the lecture halls are not treated as venues to spread knowledge. Instead, they have become the place for teachers to grumble," it comments.

BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook.