Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Tighter regulations are being planned on schoolbuses, after one child died and another needed hospital treatment when theywere left on board for hours unnoticed over the past two months.
The Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) has asked the Ministry ofTransport to formulate regulations on school bus services in an effort toensure student safety.
The ministry said the school bus service had been developed recently, but therewere no specific laws to regulate the service.
Many countries have strict rules on technical standards for school buses aswell as a system of legal corridors to implement regulations to ensure thesafety of pupils.
The transport ministry will now look into legal provisions and guidelines.
In August, the MoET required departments to inspect schools using private busservices.
It recommended schools must choose licensed companies and drivers must havestrong ethics and follow road safety.
Schools were also told to end contracts with companies whose drivers did notobserve traffic laws.
In the past two months, there have been two cases of children being left onschool buses.
On August 6, a six-year-old boy at Hanoi’s Gateway School was found dead afterbeing left abandoned on a bus for hours.
The school bus monitor, Nguyen Bich Quy, and the bus driver, Doan Quy Phien, areprosecuted for unintentional murder and manslaughter. Quy has been released onbail while Phien has been placed under house arrest.
The second incidenthappened on September 13 when a three-year-old boy was found insidea school bus of Do Re Mi Private Kindergarten in the northern provinceof Bac Ninh.
He was treated for heatstroke, fever and dehydration after being left alone on the bus for sevenhours./.
VNA