Swimming is a great sport. It is fun, enjoyable and a great exercise as well. But most importantly swimming is a life-saving skill that everyone ought to master. Although there are proposals to introduce compulsory swimming lessons for all school-going children, there are very few schools in our State equipped with swimming pools.
Self-sufficient
The students of Nedungad UP School in the city are a lucky lot in this respect. Thanks to an initiative by their MLA V. Sivankutty, the school will soon have a state-of-the-art swimming pool for training students.
The swimming pool, to be constructed at a cost of Rs. 25 lakh from the special development fund of the MLA, will have modern amenities and will be beneficial for the students of neighbouring schools as well.
“This initiative is to encourage the State government's policy of including swimming training in the school curriculum. That is also the reason why we chose a government school for constructing the swimming pool which will have modern facilities,” Mr. Sivankutty said.
He said that apart from students, swimming enthusiasts and sportspersons in the city can also avail the facility coming up at Nedungad UP School. Work on the pool will start soon, he added.
“This will be the first such initiative in a government school in the city. The swimming pool will also encourage students with a skill in swimming and prepare them for sports tournaments.
So this is also part of developing sports infrastructure in schools,” said Corporation Education Standing Committee Chairman G.R. Anil.
Need to learn
The recent spate of drowning accidents in the State has stressed on the need for training every child in swimming.
The recently introduced Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act has also emphasised on the importance for providing swimming lessons to all school-going children.
The Act mandates that State governments should ensure that students in every school have the resources and facility to learn swimming either in their own schools or in nearby institutions.
“The state government is taking up this aspect seriously. To ensure that every child gets a chance to learn to swim, we are planning to introduce swimming pools in every Panchayat in the State or as a common facility for a cluster of schools ,” said General Education Department Secretary James Varghese.
He also added that the project will be implemented in association with the Kerala Sports Council.
