More cash for rural school buses

Updated: 2012-04-26 11:24

By Luo Wangshu (chinadaily.com.cn)

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The central government will invest more in rural regions to enforce the newly released regulation on school bus safety management, a senior official revealed on Wednesday when communicating with netizens.

Zhao Xiaoguang, a senior official with the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council, who is also in charge of drafting the stipulation, conducted an interview on the central government's website (gov.cn), taking questions from people online.

A few netizens questioned the funding arrangements for school buses because the regulation says central authorities will establish channels for paying for school buses, with the sum shared by local and central authorities.

Zhao said the regulation has made it clear that both the central and regional governments are legally bound to fund the school bus service and the fiscal department will be preparing a detailed plan.

Zhao said a multiple funding system, as mentioned in the regulation, is a good thing and necessary too.

Social donations will be a good supplement to government investment, especially in the underdeveloped rural areas in central and western China, he said.

Li Guang, the principal of Sifangjing Primary School in a rural area of Southwest China's Guizhou province, said he was pleased to learn that more funds will be invested to provide school bus services in rural regions.

His school has about 820 students, with 410 of them living at least three kilometers from establishment. "We need a school bus but don't have money," Li said, adding that the road is in a bad condition and needs to be repaired soon.

Currently students walk or take private transportation to school.

Zhao Xiaoguang said the regulation encourages authorities above county level to repair local roads and develop public transplantation in rural areas or provide schools close to local students.

If the two above conditions can't be met, local authorities above county-level have to provide a school bus service for students during compulsory education.

Chu Zhaohui, a senior researcher at the National Institute of Education Sciences under the Ministry of Education, said he believes the item in the regulation that rules that local authorities must provide school buses when no public transport is available, and schools are located far from children, is aimed at solving school bus problems in rural areas.

"The choice of location of schools must be combined with consideration of school buses," he said. "Sometimes a better solution would be to build a new school."

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