校车安全条例草案征求意见结束

The Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council posted a draft of new school bus safety regulations online in December for a one-month period of public consultation. As of January 11th this year, more than seven thousand opinions have been received, which will be used as reference when revising the draft.

A statement from the office has listed the most debated topics, including whether to offer school bus services to preschoolers and high school students, whether to carry on merging small rural schools into central ones, and whether schools should be required to purchase high-end buses.

The most controversial topic is whether to continue to close rural schools, transferring students into larger, more central ones. The merger of rural schools have forced students to travel for longer distance to get to school, thus make school bus a must for many.

Wang Jingbo, an official from the China University of Political Science and Law, says local governments can carry on school merging in rural areas only on the condition that they provide transportation for the students.

"The centralized schools leave students with no option but to travel long distances. The government should take their responsibility for the rural school closures. I think regulations concerning school bus safety should make local governments offering school bus transportation as a precondition to the merging of schools."

A slew of schools have closed across the country since the late 1990s. According to statistics released by the Ministry of Education, from 2000 to 2010, the number of primary schools nationwide has been reduced by half and the number of middle schools has been cut by one-sixth, many of them in rural areas.

Both the number and quality of boarding schools can't meet the increased demand. As a result, more students have to relay on school bus.

According to the statistics, more than 70% of school bus accidents have occurred in rural areas. Therefore, experts suggest that the new regulations focus on the issue of rural school bus safety.

Professor Yuan Guilin of Beijing Normal University thinks better location of centralized school could partly ease the problem.

"If students go to the nearest school by foot, this will reduce the demand for the school bus and the potential safety hazard."

For CRI, I'm Shuangfeng.