Kindergartens, elementary schools and universities are banned from renting their campuses out as parking lots, the Shanghai Education Commission said yesterday.

 

 

The warning came after a reversing school shuttle bus hit and injured three children in the playground of the Xingchen Kindergarten in Shanghai's Minhang District on December 22.

 

"As accidents occurring on campus always raise great public concerns schools should take strict measures to ensure the personal safety of every student," the commission said in a warning statement.

 

Schools, especially kindergartens and elementary schools, must ban vehicles from accessing teaching and residential areas on campuses. Vehicles are not allowed to park on playgrounds, in front of teaching buildings, canteens or dormitories.

 

Yang Yongming, director of the commission's youth protection division, said school officials who were found in violation face dismissal. "Schools should also pay special attention to their shuttle bus management to rule out unqualified drivers, overused vehicles or overloading," Yang said.

 

The commission, together with traffic police, found 115 unsafe school buses and 38 cases of overloading during the latest spot inspection from November 29 to December 1.

 

Offending schools were ordered to rectify the situation, the commission said.

 

(Shanghai Daily January 4, 2007)