3-Year-Old Thai Girl Still In I C U After Left Unattended All Day In Parked School Van

[Thongkorn]

Bless her Hope her Buddha takes care of her. Simple count on count off would have saved this poor child.

[Scott]

I work at a school and this is a tragic accident. I would probably hold the bus driver the most culpable in this situation. The buses have students from different grade levels and different classes, so until they are handed over to the teacher, she wouldn't have any idea if the child is absent for the day.

At our school, there is an assistant in the van as well. When the children arrive, the back of the van is opened and the bags are taken out and the children come out and pick up their bag. We would know something is amiss if there was a bag and no child. Also, the doors are all left open until all students have left for the building. The driver then closes the back and the door, but I have never seen one actually get in and take a good look , although a child sleeping on the seat would not go unnoticed.

The KG parents are an absolute nightmare to deal with. They might send their child on the van, or they might drive them. They may bring them very, very early or they may bring them quite late. We sometimes have parents picking up their child at the same time as others are dropping their child off. This is especially true in the summer, with a shorter school day and new children and parents new to the school.

The students are not as difficult to teach as the parents. I have seen parents take their child out of the canteen and not notify the staff and leaving everyone in a panic looking for a missing child. We now have to cordon off the KG area and literally guard the children from the parents.

The young ones are pretty vulnerable and need a lot of attention. My very best wishes for this girl. What a horrible thing for everyone concerned.

[Almera]

Probably were busy planning their morning somtam and fried insects.

Good luck with it little one. Hope you pull through okay. Your suffering is yet another mental note as to why not entrust any Thais with my child.

[Unkomoncents]

Really this is a tragic, microcosmic window into the heart of the problems that are systemic in the Thai educational bureaucracy, the most significant being a complete lack of concern for the students' well-being and development at all stages. This literally translates to situations where the basic safety of children in Thai schools comes into serious question. My son was in a Kindergarten in eastern Bangkok for one year before one day, a fellow student stabbed him in the face with pencil. No one was present in the classroom and nothing was done about the wound until he came home and we discovered it. We pulled him out of the school and ultimately emigrated to the United States, where thankfully, he can learn in an environment where I can at least trust that there will be a teacher present. Thailand is for vacations only.

[Almera]

^ And we all hope that school doesn't make international headlines one day.

[SantiSuk]

I dont recall any school I ever attended in the west ringing up the parents if a child did not attend school for one day. Has the west got so overregulated that this is now required practice?

I say this as a parent of a three year old and i empathise enormously with the parents, but lets not go overboard with the witch hunt for scapegoats. Tragic accident and some culpability by the driver if he did not walk the aisle of the bus, but do you lot really think that the average school bus driver here can be expected to count kids onto his bus and off again. Have you ever seen the kids piling on and off school buses? Herding cats comes to mind.

If you are all so concerned that your precious three year olds need to be wrapped in cottonwool, better not let them out the front door!

[vijer]

One must ask oneself does the classroom teacher actually take a register of children present for school each morning, and do they investigate any students absentees ??

A quick chat with the driver to confirm a child is indeed missing, if so backed up by a phone call to the family to verify a child is at home.

Obviously a "communication breakdown" or more simply the school has no check system in place!!

In this instance someone must be held accountable in the very least for their actions in leaving the child in the van & the school for not having a correct procedure!!

Little I guess will actually happen, a bunch of flowers for the mother & a lame apology.

At my school even when the kids don't show up and I notify the Thai teachers they don't get very excited about it, but that is high school. You would think they would have some checks in place for kindergarden.

On the other hand, my son who is a year old would have figured out how to get out of the car. We have to watch him every second. And no I am not blaming the kid.

[Tywais]

Have you ever seen the kids piling on and off school buses? Herding cats comes to mind.

This was a school van which holds normally 9-11 kids max, not a western style school bus. Counting to 11 should be no stretch.

[thaicbr]

I dont recall any school I ever attended in the west ringing up the parents if a child did not attend school for one day. Has the west got so overregulated that this is now required practice?

I say this as a parent of a three year old and i empathise enormously with the parents, but lets not go overboard with the witch hunt for scapegoats. Tragic accident and some culpability by the driver if he did not walk the aisle of the bus, but do you lot really think that the average school bus driver here can be expected to count kids onto his bus and off again. Have you ever seen the kids piling on and off school buses? Herding cats comes to mind.

If you are all so concerned that your precious three year olds need to be wrapped in cottonwool, better not let them out the front door!

It was a van. The van had a driver and an assistant (both supposedly teachers at the school). The 3 year old kid was SUPPOSED to be in the safe keeping of the school. Not playing on the street or juggling hand grenades.

So your last comment is a bit idiotic

I hope she recovers and goes on to great things.

Sent from my i-mobile i-STYLE Q6

Edited April 5, 2013 by thaicbr

[thaicbr]

One must ask oneself does the classroom teacher actually take a register of children present for school each morning, and do they investigate any students absentees ??

A quick chat with the driver to confirm a child is indeed missing, if so backed up by a phone call to the family to verify a child is at home.

Obviously a "communication breakdown" or more simply the school has no check system in place!!

In this instance someone must be held accountable in the very least for their actions in leaving the child in the van & the school for not having a correct procedure!!

Little I guess will actually happen, a bunch of flowers for the mother & a lame apology.

At my school even when the kids don't show up and I notify the Thai teachers they don't get very excited about it, but that is high school. You would think they would have some checks in place for kindergarden.

On the other hand, my son who is a year old would have figured out how to get out of the car. We have to watch him every second. And no I am not blaming the kid.

Your kid probably wouldn't have if he had been sleeping and over a few hours had become dehydrated and weak after being locked in.

Sent from my i-mobile i-STYLE Q6

[atyclb]

Wow all sorts of thoughts are running through my head about this one? It's quite worrying how simple checks were not carried out to prevent something like this happening.

It's also scary to think that sitting in a parked car in the sun all day is so dangerous!?

Windows rolled up in the sun becomes literally an "oven" Then 2 damaging processes occur. 1) Volume contraction (dehydration) 2nd to sweating in the absence of replacement of losses. 2) Hyperthermia or hyperpyrexia if tem high enough (temp increases dramatically) as body can no longer cope with #1 and ambient temp. This high body temp wreaks havoc with essentially every cellular process in the body because biochemical / physiologic functions are temp dependent/ for normal activity. Children commonly can get seizures with fever.

In general young children and the elderly are more susceptible to harmful effects/complications of this and of many diseases in general although the above is not a disease. Google has a lot of interesting stuff on this.

My heart goes out to the little girl.

[F430murci]

Poor baby. People don't understand how horrible this can be. Aweful way to die a slow painful death. Poor children who have absolutely no idea what is happening to them.

[atyclb]

Pavena Foundation -- again. You know, to be honest I think the founder of this organization deserves that "Woman of the Year" award -- if such an award really means anything.

I mean ... when women are in need, who do they think of first?

Definitely not the Women's Empowerment Whatever Fund ones~! There's probably a good reason for that too!

They don't do sh*t!

To anyones knowledge, did Paveena show up or get involved with the poor little Karen girl that was scalded and mutilated for 5 years?

[hellodolly]

I dont recall any school I ever attended in the west ringing up the parents if a child did not attend school for one day. Has the west got so overregulated that this is now required practice?

I say this as a parent of a three year old and i empathise enormously with the parents, but lets not go overboard with the witch hunt for scapegoats. Tragic accident and some culpability by the driver if he did not walk the aisle of the bus, but do you lot really think that the average school bus driver here can be expected to count kids onto his bus and off again. Have you ever seen the kids piling on and off school buses? Herding cats comes to mind.

If you are all so concerned that your precious three year olds need to be wrapped in cottonwool, better not let them out the front door!

My High School did in the late 50s.

It took a good sense of timing to get back in the house after the parents had gone to work and before the school called.

Good thing they did not put number of days absent on the report cards.

[EyesWideOpen]

Pavena Foundation -- again. You know, to be honest I think the founder of this organization deserves that "Woman of the Year" award -- if such an award really means anything.

I mean ... when women are in need, who do they think of first?

Definitely not the Women's Empowerment Whatever Fund ones~! There's probably a good reason for that too!

They don't do sh*t!

To anyones knowledge, did Paveena show up or get involved with the poor little Karen girl that was scalded and mutilated for 5 years?

Yes they did, and I believe they were the only agency to actually do something.

[shaurene]

One must ask oneself does the classroom teacher actually take a register of children present for school each morning, and do they investigate any students absentees ??

A quick chat with the driver to confirm a child is indeed missing, if so backed up by a phone call to the family to verify a child is at home.

Obviously a "communication breakdown" or more simply the school has no check system in place!!

In this instance someone must be held accountable in the very least for their actions in leaving the child in the van & the school for not having a correct procedure!!

Little I guess will actually happen, a bunch of flowers for the mother & a lame apology.

Hi I live in a Village up in Khon Kaen and the school toyota 10 seeter comes each morning to pick up, they just have the door open and the child gets in they do not have a list etc to check. The bus is owned by one of the teachers and they charge the families each month for pick up and drop off, no records of what children where on the bus. But this is Thailand.

[Payboy]

Thai schooling has all the potential to turn you into a vegetable, but being trapped in a schoolbus for hours is a really unnecessary shortcut.

[jackr]

Doubtless both the driver and school have tried to cover their ass as opposed to manning up and admitting they made a mistake!!

[saroq]

The teacher didn't do her job but when you deal with any job (kids included) day in and day out without incident it's easy to become complacent and switch to autopilot. That may be the situation here.

[scorecard]

The teacher didn't do her job but when you deal with any job (kids included) day in and day out without incident it's easy to become complacent and switch to autopilot. That may be the situation here.

I agree that's a possibility, but there are many job situations where this factor is not acceptable.

Care of a group of 3 year old kids is one example.

Therefore schools, like any employer should find staff who are suitable for the job, have the natural behaviors needed for the job.

Suitable behavioral competencies is now a serious recruitment factor in many countries / companies across the world.

In Singapore you have to have the research based behavioral competencies suite demed necessary to be a productive teacher. These things can be tested, candidates, in Singaore for teaching positions, who don't pass are rejected.

This is one of the factors which today brings continuous accolades for the Singapore education stystem / process and the clear and obvious results it produces in the students.

Sadly this is not coming to Thailand (and other countries too) tomorrow.

Edited April 6, 2013 by scorecard

[Scott]

Have you ever seen the kids piling on and off school buses? Herding cats comes to mind.

This was a school van which holds normally 9-11 kids max, not a western style school bus. Counting to 11 should be no stretch.

True, but only if you are born with 6 fingers on one hand.

For many schools, the van drivers must make two runs in the morning and two runs in the afternoon. That means that getting the kids out and on their way quickly is rather important. Obviously, this driver wasn't making another run.

Attendance is important in Thailand. In spite of what people believe, you can fail a grade, but not because you got less than the 50%, but because you did NOT attend the required number of days at school. Some students arrive sick and escorted immediately to the Nurse's room--but they are counted as present for the day.

Schools do not ordinarily call the parents to see why a student is absent unless there is a reason to do so, such as he has signed in for the day and then disappeared. Different schools may have different policies.

Very sad and I think the driver is the culpable person.

Personally, I don't think children this young should be attending a school and given the way people drive, they certainly shouldn't be in a van full of kids.

[Almera]

Shouldn't they have noticed as they would have had to go around undoing each kid's seatbelt?

Oh wait, seatbelt, Thailand, oh right! They were probably removed as using them equates to bad luck and actually causes accidents.

There is no help.

Edited April 6, 2013 by Almera

[DocN]

Sooooooooo, here we go again!

"It could happen everywhere...not only in Thailand!"

SO XXXXXXX WHAT?

[Gonzo the Face]

Saturday Morning 9:30 AM

Has anyone seen or heard how the little treasure is doing?? Real time report, not 36 hrs old

G

[dighambara]

Saturday Morning 9:30 AM

Has anyone seen or heard how the little treasure is doing?? Real time report, not 36 hrs old

G

Likely being kept in a coma to give her the best chance of recovery. Being a child, her skull is not yet fully formed (solidified), so a swollen brain doesn't necessarily mean death. A senior in this situation would likely die, if they didn't break a window or door to escape.

[scorecard]

Have you ever seen the kids piling on and off school buses? Herding cats comes to mind.

This was a school van which holds normally 9-11 kids max, not a western style school bus. Counting to 11 should be no stretch.

True, but only if you are born with 6 fingers on one hand.

For many schools, the van drivers must make two runs in the morning and two runs in the afternoon. That means that getting the kids out and on their way quickly is rather important. Obviously, this driver wasn't making another run.

Attendance is important in Thailand. In spite of what people believe, you can fail a grade, but not because you got less than the 50%, but because you did NOT attend the required number of days at school. Some students arrive sick and escorted immediately to the Nurse's room--but they are counted as present for the day.

Schools do not ordinarily call the parents to see why a student is absent unless there is a reason to do so, such as he has signed in for the day and then disappeared. Different schools may have different policies.

Very sad and I think the driver is the culpable person.

Personally, I don't think children this young should be attending a school and given the way people drive, they certainly shouldn't be in a van full of kids.

Agree that at three years old they should not be transported like sheep in a van or whatever.

But I think you way too fast with your statement "I think the driver is the culpable person."

Do you really know in detail what responsibilities, if any, are assigned at the school in question to the van driver and the teacher who was apparently assigned to be in the van?

Different schools do have different procedures for this matter.

[memkuk]

Exactly the same thing happened once before in BKK, also during the hot season. About 21 years ago a boy of 4 years old ended up being left in a school bus, parked in the blazing sun. Unfortunately he didn't survive it. It made me sick to the stomach (our son was also 4 at the time). It still makes me sick to the stomach now, knowing it happened again

[Morden]

Pavena Foundation -- again. You know, to be honest I think the founder of this organization deserves that "Woman of the Year" award -- if such an award really means anything.

I mean ... when women are in need, who do they think of first?

Definitely not the Women's Empowerment Whatever Fund ones~! There's probably a good reason for that too!

They don't do sh*t!

Does anyone have a website address for Pavena? The one posted earlier leads only to a site not yet constructed.

[Scott]

Off-topic post removed as well as replies.

[scorecard]

Exactly the same thing happened once before in BKK, also during the hot season. About 21 years ago a boy of 4 years old ended up being left in a school bus, parked in the blazing sun. Unfortunately he didn't survive it. It made me sick to the stomach (our son was also 4 at the time). It still makes me sick to the stomach now, knowing it happened again

I recall that incident too, so sad,

The unfortunate little boys' name nickname was Donut.