The death toll from school bus accidents in 2012 dropped 50.2 percent from 2011, statistics by the Ministry of Education showed on Tuesday, Beijing News reported.

Many unlicensed kindergartens are still using disqualified school buses, and overloading continues in some regions, the ministry said. And a survey among 14 cities and provinces showed a severe shortage of school bus drivers.

The Ministry of Finance, the State Administration of Taxation and China Insurance Regulatory Commission are mulling policies to subsidize school buses, the paper said.

A number of school bus accidents have occurred in China in recent years. In December 2012, 11 kindergarteners died after an overloaded school van plunged into a pond in East China's Jiangxi province.