Gansu to build more kindergartens after school bus crash

Twenty-one, including 19 preschoolers and two adults, died when a nine-seat school bus illegally carrying 64 people crashed head-on with a coal truck in Yulinzi township, Zhengning county in Qingyang, Wednesday morning. A further 43 were injured.

Local authorities in the northwest province of Gansu Friday pledged huge investment to build more public kindergartens in the wake of a school bus accident that killed 19 preschoolers and left dozens injured.

The Qingyang city government said in a statement that it will earmark 680 million yuan (107 million U.S. dollars), 100 million yuan more than the earlier pledge, to build 200 public kindergartens in the next three years.

Each township will have a public kindergarten equipped with a standard school bus and every county seat will have five to 10 renovated or new kindergartens to ensure kids can study close to home, according to the statement.

Twenty-one, including 19 preschoolers and two adults, died when a nine-seat school bus illegally carrying 64 people crashed head-on with a coal truck in Yulinzi township, Zhengning county in Qingyang, Wednesday morning. A further 43 were injured.

The school bus belongs to the privately-run Little Doctor Kindergarten, the only kindergarten in Yulinzi township. With over 700 children, the kindergarten has only four vans. All seats have been removed so more passengers can be crammed in.

Parents of students at the kindergarten have said that school bus overloading has been a problem for years, despite repeated complaints.

Also on Friday, the Zhengning county government said in a statement that it has closed the Little Doctor Kindergarten and will soon open a public kindergarten at the site of Little Doctor in Yulinzi township.

Three mental health teachers will enter the new school to conduct psychological intervention for the remaining 716 kids from the Little Doctor Kindergarten, according to the statement.

The new school also has received a 45-seat school bus donated by an oil company, it said.

Meanwhile, each family of the dead preschoolers will get 436,000 yuan (68,500 U.S. dollars) in compensation and consolation money, it noted.

The accident has shocked the nation. Following it the Ministry of Education has ordered comprehensive safety inspections of school buses nationwide.