STUDENTS, parents and teachers from two Bathurst schools have scrapped plans to visit Japan.
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MacKillop College has postponed its plan to send an exchange group to Osaka and Tokyo for 12 months. They were due to leave in a few weeks.
Bathurst High School has cancelled its visit to its sister school in Ohkuma, which is home to the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant.
This plant has become the focus of world-wide attention as explosions and fires continue to rip through it, releasing radiation which has been measured as far away as Tokyo, 250kms to the south.
A tour of the nuclear plant had been organised as part of their visit.
Bathurst High School principal Geoff Hastings said in the end the school had no choice but to cancel the exchange.
He said while Ohkuma survived the worst of the tsunami, there has been extensive earthquake damage. The hotel where parents would have stayed has been completely demolished by the 8.9 magnitude earthquake.
“The decision in the end was easy because there was no possibility of the exchange taking place,” Mr Hastings said.
“The safety of our students is our first priority and we are also very concerned for our Japanese hosts.
“Some students have been successful in making contact through Facebook but there are many we still haven’t heard from.”
A group of students from Ohkuma had been due to arrive in Bathurst next week.
Bathurst High students have been participating in exchange visits with students from Ohkuma since 1998.
“We are experiencing feelings of great sadness and concern because of that close connection,” Mr Hastings said.
“Over the years we would have had many hundreds of students, maybe a thousand, visit us from Ohkuma.
“Exchanges are a really powerful learning experience.”
Thirty-eight students had signed up for the exchange visit. They would have been accompanied by a number of teachers and parents.
Mr Hastings said the events in Ohkuma had galvanised students into looking for ways they could help and the school was currently developing a fundraising assistance program.
He said while the students’ initial reaction to learning they would not be going to Ohkuma was one of disappointment, they were far more concerned and upset for their friends and what they were going through.
Mr Hastings said it is anticipated that a significant portion of the money already paid will be refunded, however, that is still under negotiation.
