Government Lets School Water Safety Sink

The Government urgently needs to fund school pools, says New Zealand First.

“New Zealand is the third worst country in the developed world for drownings, the curriculum has an expectation that schools will teach water safety, but the government refuses to pay for school pools,” says New Zealand First Deputy Leader and Spokesperson for Education Tracey Martin.

“Dozens of school pools have disappeared through a lack of funding.The government urgently needs to change its attitude and value school pools.

“Previous generations of Kiwi kids learned water survival skills, how to float, how to tread water and basic swimming strokes in the humble old school pool.

“The few that are left are under threat as the Government does not allocate any money schools to provide water safety and survival skills.

“New Zealand First joins with Water Safety New Zealand in its concern that the school pool is fast disappearing.

“The New Zealand Curriculum clearly states that “all students will have had opportunities to learn basic aquatic skills by the end of year 6”. But schools with pools don’t even have enough government funding for the day to day running and maintenance costs.

“The Ministry obviously has an agenda to fob off the cost of teaching water skills to our primary age students on to parents and ratepayers. To suggest that the use of community swimming pools with associated entry fees, professional tuition and transport costs is a win for kids is outrageous. I believe this breaches the Education Act 1989.

“Many existing school pools were built by wiser governments in partnership with communities who fundraised for these assets because they understood the importance of children learning water skills.

“The Minister knows that costs, including water testing, are stretching school budgets to breaking point trying to deliver this curriculum item, so what is she going to do about it?

“We live in a beautiful place surrounded by sea, rivers criss-cross the whole country and lakes are dotted everywhere.

“We must do all we can to ensure the safety and survival of our children in the water,” says Ms Martin.

ENDS

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