CCTV and other state media reported the SUV hit people outside the Yongan Primary school in Changde city in Hunan province on Tuesday morning as students were going in for the day.
Many were injured in the incident, CCTV reported.
A more detailed tally of the injuries was not available, and it was not immediately clear what had caused the crash or whether it was intentional.
The incident happened days after a driver rammed his car into a crowd at a sports centre in Zhuhai in southern China, killing 35 people and severely injuring 43 in one of worst public attacks in recent memory.
Short video clips circulating on Chinese social media on Tuesday showed young children running near the school, some into the school compound, and shouting, "Save us."
Someone can be heard shouting, "Call the police."
In another video, a man is surrounded by a crowd and apparently beaten with sticks and rods.
A separate clip shows a man handcuffed and being held down on wet cement by a figure in uniform.
A former student killed eight people during a stabbing rampage at a vocational college in Wuxi city. (AP PHOTO)
CCTV reported the driver of the car that had crashed into people near the school was not the parent of a student there.
"Why are such incidents happening more and more frequently lately, hit-and-runs, and always involving students? What has happened to society now?," said one commentator on social media platform Weibo.
Police blamed last week's Zhuhai deaths on a male driver angry at his divorce settlement.
Days later, a former student went on a stabbing rampage at a vocational college in eastern China's Wuxi, killing eight people.
In the Zhuhai and Wuxi cases, police released little information, though it appears the two men lashed out against unrelated bystanders after suffering an economic loss.
The lack of details released about these and similar attacks reported in 2024 have stirred discussion on Chinese social media, much of it quickly censored, about a rise in economic and societal pressure in the country and the mental health resources available to deal with it.
