Dragon boat tragedy: Guidelines not followed (Update)

PENANG: Preliminary investigation into Sunday’s dragon boat capsize tragedy here showed that the Chung Ling High School management did not adhere fully to safety guidelines for co-curricular activities issued by the Education Department.

State Education Director Ibrahim Mohammad said the quidelines required the school management to inform the security authorities of the activities to ensure that the students’ safety was monitored.

The department had issued the guidelines to all schools, he told reporters here on Monday.

Ibrahim said the department would enforce the rule by requiring schools to get approval from the department before carrying out any outdoor co-curricular activity.

He said the department did not stop any school recreational activity so long as the academic performance was not affected.

“The school is the only school with water sports activities because it claimed to have students of calibre,” he said.

He added the department had recorded information from the school management and an investigation would be conducted to determine the cause of the incident.

Meanwhile in Putrajaya, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the capsize should be a reminder so the tragedy would not recur.

As such, he said all schools must take greater care when carrying out co-curricular activities as accidents could happen any time.

Muhyiddin, who is also Education Minister, extended his condolences to the families of the victims.

“The school concerned is an outstanding school in the field of boat racing. This is the only school in Penang which is said to have its own team and it is not the first time (it has participated in the activity) but has participated for many years.

“But people say death keeps no calendar,” he told reporters after launching the MyID Initiative and Conference of Heads of Public Sector Agencies at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre.-Bernama