Son left behind on school bus Father testifies why repeat?

“If it had been summer, my son would have died,”

said the father whose son was left on the school bus.

In Osaka, it turned out that there were many times left behind on the school bus so far.

Why is it that there are always people left behind on the kindergarten bus?

No way my son...

(Father whose son was left behind)

“When I got the message that my child had been left behind, I was very surprised, wondering what had happened. I never thought that my son would be a victim. If it had been summer, I think my son might have died."

He told NHK in November last year in Moriguchi City, Osaka. This is a father whose 2-year-old son was left behind on the school bus at the accredited kindergarten.

The boy was in good health, but was left on the bus for about an hour and a half.

Due to repeated staff mistakes

The boy was left behind on the day of the Shichi-go-san event, in which all kindergarteners visit a nearby shrine.

Normally, children are dropped off from the bus in order of age when they go to kindergarten, but on this day, some children cried in the atmosphere of the event, and it was almost time to leave for the shrine, so they got off in order. I neglected the final check inside the car.

Even after getting off the bus, I moved to the shrine immediately, so I didn't even check with the children, which is usually the first thing to do after going to kindergarten.

In addition, staff mistakes are piled up.

On the way there, a staff member noticed that the boy was missing and asked him where he was, but another staff member replied, "The boy's class is waiting in another classroom to leave for the shrine." .

The questioning staff member assumed the boy was in another classroom and he was unaware.

After that, another staff member noticed that the boy was not on the stroller and told the homeroom teacher, but the homeroom teacher misunderstood that the boy was absent and left it as it was.

After the event is over, the homeroom teacher returns from the shrine and finds the bag that his parents left in the classroom.

Suspicious, he checked inside the bus and found a boy.

The homeroom teacher said that the incident in Fukuoka Prefecture crossed his mind and checked the inside of the bus.

In the end the boys were left behind for about an hour and a half.

After that, Moriguchi City reported to Osaka Prefecture and jointly audited the kindergarten, notified nursery schools and kindergartens in the city, and called for caution to be left behind.

Principal: "Sorry"

A man who is the current director of this certified nursery school and who was the deputy director at the time responded to the interview and spoke as follows.

(Male headmaster)

"At first, when I received the report, I couldn't believe what had happened at my kindergarten, and I felt sorry for the parents who believed in the kindergarten and entrusted their children to it. When it happened. However, if it was summer, I couldn't think that nothing had happened to the children's physical condition, and I couldn't think that it would have been good in the

winter.I

feel sorry for the children."

In addition to checking the inside of the car with four people at the same time, including the driver and the nursery teacher, there is a rule to mark the name of the child on the name list when getting on, and to draw a line with a marker over the mark when getting off. It means that

In addition, four cameras were installed in each of the two buses for kindergarten, so that managers could check the inside from their smartphones.

(Male kindergarten director)

"We've been working on countermeasures, but I don't think there's an end to safety measures, so I'd like to continue brushing up on them."

At least 5 cases in Osaka

NHK interviewed Osaka Prefecture and all 43 municipalities in the prefecture to see if there were any cases in which children were left behind in kindergarten buses at kindergartens, nursery schools, and certified children's centers.

As a result, in addition to the case of Moriguchi City, it was found that a total of five cases had occurred in four municipalities: Osaka City, Takatsuki City, and Kawachinagano City.

Among them, in July 2014, a 2-year-old boy was rescued after being left behind for about 5 hours at a nursery school in Osaka City.

In all cases, the children were in good health.

It is important to share “hiyari-hatto”

Why are people left behind on buses?

One of the issues that came to light was that "mistakes were not shared and used in countermeasures."

None of the five cases confirmed by NHK were publicized by local governments, and there were cases where information was shared among concerned parties, but this was also limited.

A father whose son was left behind on a bus in Moriguchi City repeatedly asked to publicize the accident and use it as a lesson, but it was not made public because it did not meet the standards.

(Father whose son was left behind)

"If my son's case had been made public, I think that the interest in the incident in Shizuoka could have been prevented by increasing the interest of those involved."

Actually, nurseries and kindergartens In the event that a child is left behind, the government requires that if a child ▽ dies or ▽ is injured that requires treatment for more than 30 days, it must be reported as a "serious accident". , it is the current situation that it may not be reported at the discretion of the facility side.

However, Professor Masaki Watanabe of Tokyo Gakugei University's Graduate School of Teacher Education, who is familiar with crisis management in educational settings, says that attention should be paid to cases of near-miss incidents that did not lead to serious accidents but were just one step away from danger. .

(Professor Watanabe)

"When we look at the sites where serious accidents have occurred in the past, we find that there are many cases where 'near-misses' have occurred before the accident, and there is a possibility that they could have been prevented if countermeasures were taken at that time. It is important to collect near-miss incidents nationwide, share them with other kindergartens, and utilize them as measures to prevent accidents.The lack of a system to collect near-miss incidents is a major issue, and the Children and Family Affairs Agency should play that role." In

fact, among the five cases confirmed by NHK, the cases in Moriguchi City in November last year and Takatsuki City in May this year both occurred on the day the event was held. There was a common point that the bus operation procedure was different from usual.

In the future, Osaka Prefecture will share near misses, and if a child is left behind on a bus, etc., for nursery schools, kindergartens, certified children's centers, etc., the presence or absence of injuries and the length of time left behind. Regardless, I asked them to report everything.

The prefectural government said, "We would like to analyze the cause from the collected information and share it with related organizations to prevent recurrence."

Check effectiveness of countermeasures

The second issue is that countermeasures are left up to on-site facilities.

Following an incident in Fukuoka Prefecture in which a 5-year-old boy died after being left behind on a nursery school bus, the government ordered nursery schools, kindergartens, etc. We notified the children to ensure thorough safety management, such as checking the seats and double-checking the number of children before and after going to the park and walking.

However, after this notification, there were leftovers in Moriguchi City and Takatsuki City in Osaka.

If the contents of the notification were thoroughly thorough, the same thing would not happen.

With that in mind, when we interviewed all 43 local governments in the prefecture, we found that while all local governments had notified the frontline of kindergartens and nursery schools about the notice from the national government, nearly 70% of the local governments had actually taken measures. I didn't check to see if it was there.

A father whose son was left behind in Moriguchi City also had doubts about whether the measures had been taken.

(Father whose son was left behind)

"After the notification, I doubt whether the government has properly checked whether countermeasures were actually taken. If the notification had been followed, I don't think my son's case would have occurred."

Professor Watanabe points out that countermeasures should not be left up to facilities.

(Professor Watanabe)

“It is important that the departments in charge of the government check the status of the measures, rather than leaving the safety measures to the facilities. Efforts should be continuously made to directly confirm the situation at the facility."

He also points out that it is effective for parents to ask the facility about safety measures.

(Professor Watanabe)

"The facility side has a responsibility to properly explain the safety system to the guardians. It is important to create opportunities for the guardians and the facility side to talk about measures to protect children on a daily basis."