CRI听力:Expert Urges to Include School Bus into Government Budget

Reporter:
The head of the kindergarten and the owner of the school bus have been detained as local authorities in the city of Penglai look into the crash.

Among the 15 children on the overloaded minibus, only three managed to survive.

The bus driver was also killed in the accident.

Luan Jing'ai is with the local public security bureau.

"According to what we have determined, the accident happened when a truck loaded with sand crashed into the minibus. The truck then rolled over, burying the minibus with sand."

Police say the minibus, hired by the kindergarten to operate as a school bus, was only supposed to be carrying a maximum of 8 people.

The accident comes amid the country's beefed-up efforts to ensure students' safety by tightening up inspections on the operation of school buses.

Back in 2012, China rolled out its first safety regulation on school buses after a string of accidents.

The regulation specifies detailed technical conditions for school buses and imposes harsher punishments on those who violate security management rules.

However, Xiong Bingqi, the director of 21st Century Education Research Center, says money plays a critical part to ensure the safety of school buses.

"Local governments should be responsible for providing school buses. They should include school buses into their budget plan, both for public schools and private schools. If the government only focuses on supervising, but does not put in money to provide the facilities, when some schools can't afford to have a proper school bus, they may use unqualified minivans as school buses."

Currently, a standard school bus can cost from 200,000 to 500, 000 yuan. Different from public transportation, school buses only run during weekdays and school days, adding a huge sum to maintenance fees.

Xiong says governments can use the operation of school buses in other countries as a reference.

"In countries such as the U.S. and Canada, each school district will arrange school buses and hire bus drivers for the whole district. To lower the cost, in Canada, each student may have to pay one Canadian dollar per day for the bus service. This is a rational plan. "

In the wake of the accident, authorities in other provinces across the country have started a new round of inspections on school buses.

For CRI, I'm Wang Mengzhen.