PENANG: Preliminary investigation into Sunday’s dragon boat capsize tragedy here showed that the Chung Ling High School management did not adhere fully to the safety guidelines for co-curricular activities issued by the Education Department.
State Education director Ibrahim Mohammad said the guidelines 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 yesterday.
In the incident, a teacher and three students drowned while two others were still missing after the dragon boat with 18 on board on a training session capsized after being hit by strong waves.
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.
“Chung Ling High School is the only school with water sport activities because it claimed to have students of calibre,” he said.
He added that the department had recorded information from the school management and an investigation would be conducted to determine the cause of the incident. — Bernama