There have been a number of tragic accidents in China involving poorly run school buses over the years. On May 23, the Ministry of Education released an emergency notice calling for authorities to investigate and fix the problem. That same day, a bus carrying kids in west China's city of Guilin crashed - with 34 passengers, three times the number it was supposed to carry. Fortunately no one was killed, but the scale of the problem has become obvious.
In fact, China already drew up the Regulations on Administration of School Bus Safety in 2012, pointed out Xiong Bingqi, vice president of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, in an article for yicai.com. But there's been no dip in accidents since the rules were introduced, noted Xiong.
The reason, according to Xiong, is that the government hasn't stepped in to manage the routes directly. Specifically, he proposed, local governments should purchase the needed school buses and set up school bus teams, or entrust local public bus companies with operating the school buses. This way, local governments – not schools themselves - can take the responsibilities for running the routes.
The present practice of letting schools do the work is flawed, according to Xiong, because underfunded schools might use aging vehicles and unskilled drivers, and overload buses.
Besides, the current rules concerns only school buses for students receiving compulsory education, excluding pre-school students, since kindergarten isn't compulsory in China. This should be changed, Xiong argued.