"What price a child?" Systems company tells ASEAN NOW few schools are interested despite multiple deaths in vans

[webfact]

File photo. Credit: ThaiPBS

 

A sales manager at a company specializing in online management systems has told ASEAN NOW that few schools in Thailand have shelled out money to ensure that children are not left to die in vans parked at schools.

 

Graeme Jenkinson, a New Zealander at Voova Group that is based in Pattaya posed the question:

 

"What price a child?"

 

The topic is one that won't go away. Only last week a seven year old child died after being left in a van all day at a private Chonburi school. The mother said that they paid good money for an expensive education - and of course they expected so much more.

 

A teacher and a driver failed to notice a child in a rear seat, until the end of the day.

 

The incoming chief of the RTP Pol Gen Damrongsak Kittipraphat has taken an interest in the issue but critics say it will only be a crackdown and soon forgotten - until the next tragedy.

 

Mr Jenkinson said that there had been 129 instances of children left in motor vehicles between 2014 and 2020. Six had died.

 

Most of these had occurred at schools where the period of time can be all day leading to a horrific death by heat and suffocation that leaves families and school communities devastated.

 

Voova are so concerned about the issue that they are slashing their prices in a bid to get more schools onboard with a system that offers a total solution to the problem of children being forgotten in vans as well as a host of other safety issues.

 

One of the features of the system allows parents to monitor where their child is in real time. Also the scanning of a QR code is necessary meaning that a pupil who has been registered as being on the bus will be flagged up to the school if they have not arrived in class within 15 minutes.

 

There are multiple checks and balances to ensure that it is not one act of carelessness that leads to tragedy. The company provides full training for management, drivers and monitors.

 

Mr Jenkinson said that his organisation had contacted around 200 international schools in Thailand and had done demonstrations of the management system at about 100.

 

Yet only two - including Bangkok Prep in Bangkok and one other school in the Thai capital - had taken them up on their offer.

 

Following last week's tragedy in Chonburi Mr Jenkinson said that Bangkok Patana - perhaps the most well known British International School in Thailand - had been in touch. They have a fleet of more than 200 mini-vans owned privately that ferry children to and from school, he said.  

 

Voova Group is a Thai owned company that has its roots in the UK.

 

Mr Jenkinson said that mostly it appeared to be a cost issue that made schools reluctant to adopt a more comprehensive system to go with measures already in place. 

 

Some will say that just a head count is necessary; but the system means that if one thing goes wrong there are others there as back-up to prevent the unthinkable happening.

 

 

Voova has been trying to convince schools for the last six years to adopt their system, said Mr Jenkinson, and with the pandemic affecting enrolment safety has been put further on the back burner due to costs. He also said that transport companies claim that they have systems in place saying "if it ain't broke don't fix it".

But he says that many systems are inherently flawed and need an upgrade. He pointed to the devastating costs from litigation that schools could face if they go cheap and get things wrong.

 

Voova normally charges 2,000 baht per vehicle as a set up fee then charges 1,500 baht per month per vehicle thereafter. 

 

Mr Jenkinson told ASEAN NOW after last week's tragedy: "We are currently sending emails out to each of those 200 odd schools again offering to give them the system, which is multi-lingual, at no charge, for six months. The only cost they will have is a one-time set-up fee of 2,000 baht per vehicle which includes all training for all staff - management, drivers and monitors. That's it! What cost for a student's life?"
 
Mr Jenkinson is convinced schools that adopt the system will not be disappointed and parents will have far greater peace of mind.

 

School administrators can contact Mr Jenkinson on 0888045840. 

 

Parents concerned about their children may also like to prompt administrators to the benefits of such a system.

 

What price a child?

 

What price indeed. 

 

-- © Copyright  ASEAN NOW 2022-09-06

 

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[2baht]

22 minutes ago, webfact said:

A teacher and a driver failed to notice a child in a rear seat, until the end of the day.

Thinking about their lunch, no doubt. I find they have the attention span of a fly!

[huangnon]

Quote

"What price a child?"

Sounds like an auction.?

[kotsak]

Seriously, do we need a system to help us find out if a child has been left in a van.. It's not the size of a bloody airplane <deleted>!

 

[DualSportBiker]

Thai schools are for-profit, non-tax paying businesses. I spent several years demonstrating to schools that they could save money and generate a healthy return on technology to reduce energy consumption. Even with clear evidence of savings they were not interested:

• 16 months to break-even was too long (unrealistic expectations of ROI on capital equipment)
• their engineers claimed existing equipment would be damaged (too lazy to deal with new stuff)
• "your product only works when demonstrating. Once installed for real it will not save." (abject lack of trust and fundamental failure to understand how stuff is made)
• "how do I benefit when my school saves money?" (my salary is too low, if you help me I can help you)

When you add this approach with the 'preventative maintenance is for idiots' attitude to risk reduction, it does not surprise me that schools don't care about things that might happen. Only when it has happened will they take notice, and most likely only to say that it won't happen again. Schools here are run to print money as hard and as fast as possible. Protecting children is not a priority, whether short-term with tech like in the OP, or long-term by reducing environmental impact.

 

The school's owners, their COOs, and the owners of the vans and the company that operates them all should be held liable for failures. The six deaths mentioned should have resulted in 6 groups of defendants in court, then prison. The 129 near-miss events should have resulted in fines of hundreds of thousands of Baht. I'll stop dreaming soon...

[cnx101]

I think it’s easy enough for the driver too walk through the van to check nobody’s still inside, I thought this would be normal practice, are the drivers that lazy.

[steve187]

surely its count on count off, some sort of mechanical clicker/counter, and the driver should walk though before going to for a kip

[Lacrimas]

Vans are the most dangerous thing in Thailand, stay away from them.

[Expat68]

2 hours ago, cnx101 said:

I think it’s easy enough for the driver too walk through the van to check nobody’s still inside, I thought this would be normal practice, are the drivers that lazy.

Whenever there was a works out and I drove the van, after everybody was dropped off, I walked through the van, making sure everything was ok, only took a minute. I did it automatically 

[JayClay]

While incidents like these are horrific, I have to say that this companies like this, looking to turn tragic news into profit are the lowest of the low. It's disgusting behaviour.

 

As somebody else has said, you don't need tags or any kind of digital system in place to count how many people entered and then left a vehicle!

[bstafford214]

2 hours ago, cnx101 said:

I think it’s easy enough for the driver too walk through the van to check nobody’s still inside, I thought this would be normal practice, are the drivers that lazy.

Yes, they are that lazy. There is no caring, compassion or responsibility with to many of these people. Too much caring about profit and what can you give me. There is no patience or common sense used here when it can only take 10 seconds to go look in the van after the children get out to make sure a child is not left, either because they fell asleep, or just playing and hiding. Remember these are children and you must protect them at any cost.

[bstafford214]

5 minutes ago, JayClay said:

While incidents like these are horrific, I have to say that this companies like this, looking to turn tragic news into profit are the lowest of the low. It's disgusting behaviour.

 

As somebody else has said, you don't need tags or any kind of digital system in place to count how many people entered and then left a vehicle!

Totally agree, it is common sense, to just get up off your lazy <deleted> and look.

[Sydebolle]

Total disintegration of the Thai society - full stop. 

Somchai the driver's responsibility is, each and every time, to check, if and what is left behind in the van. Would he have done that = child alive.
Yaovaluck the teacher's responsibility is a roll call in the morning, unless that has been verified at the daily raising of the flag/National Anthem intermezzo. It might have also been possible to discover an empty chair in the class room.
Last not least, teach the children to report, if they think, somebody is missing.

No need for expensive software, which Khon Thai cannot handle anyway and usually does not work.

[Graemej100]

"The problem with child deaths in school vans... is that (it) keeps repeating itself due to the negligence of the service provider," said Adisak Plitponkarnpim, director of the Thailand National Institute of Child and Family Development.

[AsianAtHeart]

18 hours ago, webfact said:

Also the scanning of a QR code is necessary meaning that a pupil who has been registered as being on the bus will be flagged up to the school if they have not arrived in class within 15 minutes.

This won't work. 

 

First, the students do not arrive in the classroom within 15 minutes.  The van can arrive back at the school as much as a half hour before the start of school, and before the students enter the classrooms, they have their morning routine at the flag raising ceremony where teachers also take opportunity to give some public instruction, such as following the school rules, or they may make extended announcements--all this before the first class begins. 

 

Secondly, not every school is equipped, technologically, to be scanning QR codes for every child as they enter a classroom.

 

As much as I would like to see children arrive in school more safely, I don't think this is necessarily the answer.  The COI in having this company promoting its own product to meet this need is huge, and doesn't bode well for a good fit for anyone beyond the company's coffers.

[Bangkok Barry]

19 hours ago, webfact said:

Voova normally charges 2,000 baht per vehicle as a set up fee then charges 1,500 baht per month per vehicle thereafter. 

I know how schools can save this money. Take 20 seconds to see if any kids are left in the van before locking it. Problem solved, although in Thailand that appears to asking too much.

[Bangkok Barry]

My wife says the latest death was the fault of the kids for not alerting the driver that someone was still in the van. She has a point, even though the primary fault lays with those charged with ensuring the safety of the kids in their charge not being bothered to do their job properly. As so often in Thailand, near enough is good enough (hanging wires, electrical faults etc). Except, sometimes, it isn't and people die or are injured. But no-one really cares and history repeats itself.

[Bkk Brian]

This article is more of an advertorial for the company promoting this expensive tech. Note they are also only marketing to International Schools

[jacko45k]

1 minute ago, Bangkok Barry said:

My wife says the latest death was the fault of the kids for not alerting the driver that someone was still in the van. She has a point, even though the primary fault lays with those charged with ensuring the safety of the kids in their charge not being bothered to do their job properly. As so often in Thailand, near enough is good enough (hanging wires, electrical faults etc). Except, sometimes, it isn't and people die or are injured. But no-one really cares and history repeats itself.

Pretty sure the kids would all just pile out on arrival, and notice very little, or regard it as quite a jape to leave her there sleeping. Blaming the kids is an odd perspective.... 

[lujanit]

Until the driver and the teacher in each and every case are charged with manslaughter and convicted with lengthy jail terms will this sad state of affairs will continue.

[kcpattaya]

Simplest solution: Leave the doors open.

[SmartyMarty]

18 hours ago, kotsak said:

Seriously, do we need a system to help us find out if a child has been left in a van.. It's not the size of a bloody airplane <deleted>!

 

Clearly the answer is "yes"

[SmartyMarty]

1 hour ago, JayClay said:

While incidents like these are horrific, I have to say that this companies like this, looking to turn tragic news into profit are the lowest of the low. It's disgusting behaviour.

 

As somebody else has said, you don't need tags or any kind of digital system in place to count how many people entered and then left a vehicle!

Clearly you don't believe in improving safety. That is disgusting behaviour. 

[SmartyMarty]

30 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

This article is more of an advertorial for the company promoting this expensive tech. Note they are also only marketing to International Schools

Yes it's nothing to do with offering a safety product that may save the lives of children in the future.

[SmartyMarty]

I bet the driver would find a wallet left behind.

[transam]

Schools and police let underage kids ride m/cycles to school, many no crash hat, 3/4 up, so I would not think they would care about other ways kids die.....????

[AdrianUk]

46 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

This article is more of an advertorial for the company promoting this expensive tech. Note they are also only marketing to International Schools

yes its 100% an advertorial, its a masterclass from voova. Trying to monitise this recent tragedy is a genius.

My idea when I first heard this happening, is 

1.  Vans should be parked in the (rain proof) shade only.
2. Both driver and assistant should both be responsible for checking and signing
3. One of the office staff should check after all the vans are back - if a child is found the driver and assistant get sacked
4. Driver should leave doors unlocked and a window in the back open so they can shout out

[Bkk Brian]

25 minutes ago, SmartyMarty said:

Yes it's nothing to do with offering a safety product that may save the lives of children in the future.

Never heard of any deaths in an International School in Thailand. Besides, medium size International School say 20 mini buses so this would cost:

 

First year

20 x 2,000 Baht set up cost = 40,000

1,500 per month per vehicle thereafter = 360,000

Total: 400,000

 

Following that a yearly charge of 360,000 

 

They can give some of that to current drivers or employ a dedicated staff just for this roll of checking mini buses. Either way the parents who already pay very high fees would certainly have an issue with this as its already the schools responsibility to ensure the safety of the students.

[Cake Monster]

19 hours ago, kotsak said:

Seriously, do we need a system to help us find out if a child has been left in a van.. It's not the size of a bloody airplane <deleted>!

 

Whilst I applaud Mr. Jenkinsons efforts to try and get Schools to adopt " Voova " as a sentry for the care of Children, his Product is not needed.

What is needed, is just for the people responsible for the Childrens welfare and Safety to actually do the Job they are Employed to do.

If they are not either capable due to learning difficulties, or for some other reason cannot, or will not do the Job, then why are they employed ?

All they have to do is count the Kids onto the Bus in the Morning, and count off the kids when they depart the Bus at the School upon arrival.

Any failure to do so is tantamount to gross misconduct, and is a sack able offence.

Should a Child Die, well, that Corporate Manslaughter.

 

[Bday Prang]

As another poster has mentioned just not locking the doors is the obvious fail safe solution. As long as the keys are removed it is virtually impossible to steal, and anybody with the required know how to overcome the lack of keys and immobiliser transponder would have no problem unlocking the doors

 The "system" being promoted by the op is simply over complicating matters with Qr codes etc etc it still requires action on the part of all concerned and becomes a liability if there is an internet outage. It is nothing short of  shameful opportunism  to use this avoidable tragedy as an advertising opportunity for another costly system that reduces normal common sense