School camp guidelines to be reviewed

View photos here

The Mangatepopo tragedy has spurred Education Minister Chris Carter to order a review of school guidelines on outdoor education.

Six Elim Christian College students and a teacher died after the group of 12 they were part of got caught by the rapidly rising Mangatepopo Stream near Turangi on Tuesday.

A spokeswoman for Mr Carter confirmed to NZPA that he had met officials and had said it was time for the guidelines, which have been in place for five years, to be reviewed.

Mr Carter told Newstalk ZB the tragedy might have been a one-off accident but he wanted parents to be confident students were as safe as possible on outdoor education courses.

The chairman of the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuit Centre board, Grant McKenzie, told Radio New Zealand that the centre's inquiry into the tragedy would look at what weather information the centre received prior to the accident.

Meanwhile the tragedy brought back memories for Auckland mother Kirstin Dufty that she would rather have left undisturbed. Her son Joshua McNaught and a schoolmate, Revan Naidoo, both aged 11, drowned while swimming in the Kauaeranga River near Thames in January 2000. The boys were on the first day of their school camp.

And while Ms Duffy does not disagree with outdoor education camps - she let her second son attend one after Joshua's death - she is adamant that children should be kept away from rivers.

"Rivers can rise so fast, and are so unpredictable."

- NZPA