Kindergarten closed after fatal van accident
Source: Xinhua |
December 26, 2012, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A PRIVATE kindergarten in east China was ordered to close yesterday, a day after the school's van plunged into a roadside pond killing 11 children.
The Chunlei Kindergarten was operating without a license and had ignored government warnings in the past, local officials said.
A safety overhaul of school transport has been launched throughout Jiangxi Province.
"The school has now been ordered to close and its principal Zhou Chun'e - the van driver - has been detained," said officials of Guixi City, where the crash occurred.
Zhou, 35, had operated the kindergarten for six years without having a license and got her driving license just one year ago.
Villagers complain there are few practical alternatives to unauthorized kindergartens for children whose parents work away in larger cities.
The preschool was the lone nursery in the village and admitted children who lived in the nearby township of Binjiang.
Local residents said the closure could leave preschoolers with fewer options - either to attend a faraway nursery with unreliable transport or to stay at home until they are old enough for elementary school.
Photos of mud-stained children's clothes, tiny shoes and school bags scattered on the bank of the pond created a sensation online after the accident, with the public demanding increased safety for students.
The Ministry of Education issued a circular yesterday calling on education departments at all levels to make student safety a priority and launched an overhaul of the school transport sector, aiming to ban unauthorized vehicles in particular.
The kindergarten had nine teachers and 95 students, according to official records.
Its seven-seater van was carrying 15 children and two adults and was speeding on a rural road undergoing repairs when it plunged into a 3-meter deep pond early on Monday morning, according to an initial investigation.
Three children died at the scene while eight others died in hospital after emergency treatment failed. Four children, Zhou and another adult survived.
Police said the van was overloaded and Zhou "drove improperly."
Most of the casualties, aged four to six, lived with their grandparents as their parents had migrated to larger cities for work, a situation typical across China's countryside.
Tong Fuliang, who was working in a factory in neighboring Zhejiang Province at the time of the accident, said he became frantic when he learned that his four-year-old son, Tong Yongjie, was involved.
"My legs shook so uncontrollably that I almost collapsed," he said, adding that he and his wife rushed "like mad" to the hospital where Tong Yongjie was being treated.
The father broke down in tears in the hospital ward. "I want to take him with me to Zhejiang. Though life might be hard out there, it helps me feel calm with the family around," he said.
Tong Boliang, 59, another villager, was relieved when he discovered that his grandson had boarded a different van that day.
"If he was a bit late and took the second van, I might have missed him forever," he said.
He said his grandson was already in elementary school but, like many others in the area, the family paid 200 yuan (US$32) a semester to use the Chunlei Kindergarten van to commute to school.
Each of the victims' families will be given cash compensation of 480,000 yuan, local officials said. The parents signed an agreement with the government yesterday, they added.
Last year, 19 preschoolers and two adults died after the school bus they were in - a nine-seater van carrying 64 passengers - collided head-on with a coal truck in northwest China's Gansu Province.
The accident prompted the central authorities to order a school transport overhaul.
"In rural areas, only well-off nurseries can afford to run school buses," Li Xiong, a rural kindergarten principal in Gansu, said. Li said that in his township, there are only two kindergartens - both privately run - to take care of preschoolers living within an 8-kilometer radius.
"Even if the government gives us a free school bus, to run it can incur big costs for struggling private kindergartens," said Yue Linjun, another school principal in Gansu.
The government provides free and mandatory education that lasts from elementary to junior high school, but excludes preschool education.
As with cities, the number of preschools has grown rapidly in rural areas as farmers pay attention to their children's education, said Li Changtai, the villager in Jiangxi.
Many of these village nurseries cannot get a license because huge investment is needed to run a legal kindergarten, said a Guixi educational official who declined to be named.
"The village kindergartens are all private. If they make the investment, they have to raise the school fees to almost unaffordable levels for poor farmers," he said. The Chunlei Kindergarten charged 800 yuan per semester, an acceptable cost for local families, villagers said.
The Chunlei Kindergarten was operating without a license and had ignored government warnings in the past, local officials said.
A safety overhaul of school transport has been launched throughout Jiangxi Province.
"The school has now been ordered to close and its principal Zhou Chun'e - the van driver - has been detained," said officials of Guixi City, where the crash occurred.
Zhou, 35, had operated the kindergarten for six years without having a license and got her driving license just one year ago.
Villagers complain there are few practical alternatives to unauthorized kindergartens for children whose parents work away in larger cities.
The preschool was the lone nursery in the village and admitted children who lived in the nearby township of Binjiang.
Local residents said the closure could leave preschoolers with fewer options - either to attend a faraway nursery with unreliable transport or to stay at home until they are old enough for elementary school.
Photos of mud-stained children's clothes, tiny shoes and school bags scattered on the bank of the pond created a sensation online after the accident, with the public demanding increased safety for students.
The Ministry of Education issued a circular yesterday calling on education departments at all levels to make student safety a priority and launched an overhaul of the school transport sector, aiming to ban unauthorized vehicles in particular.
The kindergarten had nine teachers and 95 students, according to official records.
Its seven-seater van was carrying 15 children and two adults and was speeding on a rural road undergoing repairs when it plunged into a 3-meter deep pond early on Monday morning, according to an initial investigation.
Three children died at the scene while eight others died in hospital after emergency treatment failed. Four children, Zhou and another adult survived.
Police said the van was overloaded and Zhou "drove improperly."
Most of the casualties, aged four to six, lived with their grandparents as their parents had migrated to larger cities for work, a situation typical across China's countryside.
Tong Fuliang, who was working in a factory in neighboring Zhejiang Province at the time of the accident, said he became frantic when he learned that his four-year-old son, Tong Yongjie, was involved.
"My legs shook so uncontrollably that I almost collapsed," he said, adding that he and his wife rushed "like mad" to the hospital where Tong Yongjie was being treated.
The father broke down in tears in the hospital ward. "I want to take him with me to Zhejiang. Though life might be hard out there, it helps me feel calm with the family around," he said.
Tong Boliang, 59, another villager, was relieved when he discovered that his grandson had boarded a different van that day.
"If he was a bit late and took the second van, I might have missed him forever," he said.
He said his grandson was already in elementary school but, like many others in the area, the family paid 200 yuan (US$32) a semester to use the Chunlei Kindergarten van to commute to school.
Each of the victims' families will be given cash compensation of 480,000 yuan, local officials said. The parents signed an agreement with the government yesterday, they added.
Last year, 19 preschoolers and two adults died after the school bus they were in - a nine-seater van carrying 64 passengers - collided head-on with a coal truck in northwest China's Gansu Province.
The accident prompted the central authorities to order a school transport overhaul.
"In rural areas, only well-off nurseries can afford to run school buses," Li Xiong, a rural kindergarten principal in Gansu, said. Li said that in his township, there are only two kindergartens - both privately run - to take care of preschoolers living within an 8-kilometer radius.
"Even if the government gives us a free school bus, to run it can incur big costs for struggling private kindergartens," said Yue Linjun, another school principal in Gansu.
The government provides free and mandatory education that lasts from elementary to junior high school, but excludes preschool education.
As with cities, the number of preschools has grown rapidly in rural areas as farmers pay attention to their children's education, said Li Changtai, the villager in Jiangxi.
Many of these village nurseries cannot get a license because huge investment is needed to run a legal kindergarten, said a Guixi educational official who declined to be named.
"The village kindergartens are all private. If they make the investment, they have to raise the school fees to almost unaffordable levels for poor farmers," he said. The Chunlei Kindergarten charged 800 yuan per semester, an acceptable cost for local families, villagers said.
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