China's education ministry reiterates school bus safety

China's Ministry of Education on Tuesday reiterated it will fully implement the school bus safety regulation after some local schools were not aware of the new rules. A number of illegal kindergartens are still using disqualified school buses and overloading continues to exist in some regions, the ministry said. An effective safety management mechanism has not yet been established in educational departments, it added. According to the ministry, the safety regulation took effect in April last year, setting up detailed provisions regarding driver and school bus qualifications and legal responsibilities. However, in some local regions, the qualification of school bus drivers are being approved in accordance with the old school bus safety regulation. Also, some new school vehicles are finding it difficult to get new registration plates, the ministry said. A number of school bus accidents have occurred in China in recent years, prompting the government to introduce new safety regulations and standards for better guaranteeing students' safety and allaying public concerns. In November 2011, a school bus accident occurred when 21 pupils were killed after their nine-seat minivan, with 62 preschool students, crashed in northwest China's Gansu Province. In December 2012, 11 kindergarten students, aged between four and six, died after the overloaded school van plunged into a pond in east China's Jiangxi Province.