Local education officials in China have suspended trips to overseas summer camps in the home city of the two teenage girls who died in the Asiana Airlines plane crash in San Francisco recently.

 

　　This decision has sparked hot debate on the frenzy surrounding Chinese summer camps in recent years. Should summer camp organizers be held responsible? Is the local authorities' decision to halt summer camps the right choice?

 

　　CRI's Shen Ting takes a closer look.

 

　　Education authorities in China have announced that at least 70 Chinese students and teachers, out of the total 291 passengers on board the Asiana Airlines plane, were heading to summer camps.

 

　　The two fatal victims were students at Jiangshan Middle School in China's eastern Zhejiang Province. The tragedy has led many to believe that organizers of this summer camp bear partial responsibilities for the deaths since they choose cheap tickets offered by the Asiana Airlines.

 

　　Liu Xiaodan, a supervisor in charge of the projects related to Chinese going to study in Canada with Chivast Education International, is one of them.

 

　　"My first impression of the San Francisco plane crash is that the Chinese victims chose a cost-efficient trip and wouldn't have chosen Asiana Airlines if not for the sake of saving money. In fact, a cost-efficient trip would also present other risks relating to matters such as students' accommodation overseas and even transport, including the bus they would board there. Before the tour group leaves China, the students and their parents should have these potential risks, which I think are of vital importance, carefully explained to them."

 

　　There are also reports saying that one of the two Chinese students killed in the Asiana Airlines' plane crash was found to have not been wearing a passenger seat belt.

 

　　Liu Xiaodan feels that especially in the case of long, overseas trips, summer camp organizers must not hide risks, and give clear instructions to young students ahead of the journey.

 

　　"I suspect that the fatalities from the accident had something to do with a possible failure to instruct children of the necessity of wearing seatbelts. As long as one goes abroad, for sure, it counts as a long trip. Hence organizers of such activities, whether they be schools or agents, are duty-bound to offer students guidance for the trip, including how you should check in your luggage, what to do before you board the plane as well as how you find your seat with your ticket and put on a safety belt."

 

　　Victims Wang Linjia, 16, and Ye Mengyuan, 17, were among a group of 34 students and teachers from Jiangshan Middle School en route to attend a two-week summer camp at the West Valley Christian School in the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles.

 

　　Following the incident, the education bureau of Zhejiang's Quzhou City, which also administers the smaller city of Jiangshan where the two girls studied, issued the order to suspend all summer camp trips and study tours.

 

　　Should summer camps that take Chinese students abroad be halted?

 

　　Wang Run, a Beijing native and also a mother, believes the suspension of all summer camp trips is equivalent to stopping eating for fear of choking.

 

　　"I think the relevant authorities' decision to cancel all summer camp activities due to the San Francisco plane crash is unreasonable. For example, if a school bus accident took place, should all school buses be eliminated? If a food poisoning case was discovered in a school dining hall, should all schools stop offering their students lunch?"

 

　　Li Haidong, a professor with China Foreign Affairs University, believes that whether summer camp trips and study tours could realize its designed purpose depends on the quality of its organizers.

 

　　"If this travel-for-study program goes well, or the program's operator has adequate financial strength, the program can usually meet its expected target. Otherwise, the result wouldn't be satisfying."

 

　　For CRI, I'm Shen Ting