MALLARD OUT OF HIS DEPTH ON WATER SAFETY EDUCATION

“The Minister of Education, Trevor Mallard, has displayed his ignorance of the reality of schools in suggesting that water safety skills should be ensured through the curriculum,” said New Zealand First Education spokesperson, Brian Donnelly.

“For a start, surf safety cannot be taught in a school pool, not all schools have pools and for many of those that do, the facilities are only adequate to train rudimentary skills.

“Teachers are not adequately trained for this purpose and the Ministry of Education has ignored it as a part of its in-service development programme. Now the Minister wants schools to take responsibility.

“This is simply a matter of Trevor Mallard, Minister of Sports and Recreation, passing the buck to Trevor Mallard, Minister of Education, in order to escape the embarrassment of the funding cuts suffered by surf lifesaving,” said Mr Donnelly.

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