The Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) has asked provincial departments of education and training to build swimming pools in schools to give swimming training to students.— Illustrative Image dayboi.net

HÀ NỘI – The Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) has asked provincial departments of education and training to build swimming pools in schools to give swimming training to students.

The request was released after two recent cases of students drowning in two different provinces.

Nine sixth grade schoolboys drowned last Thursday afternoon while they were swimming in a section of the Trà Khúc River in central Quảng Ngãi Province’s Thanh Khiết Village.

Two seventh grade schoolgirls drowned on Wednesday afternoon on the Tà Rục Lake in Cam Phước Tây Commune, Cam Ranh City in the central province of Khánh Hòa.

The MoET asked departments of education and training to join hands with local authorities to build swimming pools and organise swimming training courses for students.

Accidental drowning prevention must be supervised closely. Supervision results must be reported to the MoET twice a year.

But some experts have lamented the shortage of funds. Associate Professor Lê Hữu Lập, from the Academy of Posts and Telecommunications, told Tiền Phong (Vanguard) newspaper that 15 years ago he proposed that the academy build a swimming pool and consider swimming as one of the physical training subjects.

But then he himself had to withdraw the proposal, because the academy’s funds and the funds of other universities, colleges and schools were dependent on the State budget, so building a swimming pool was difficult work.

Lê Hoàng Hảo, chairman of the Vietnamese Association of Educational Equipment, suggested to use of mobile swimming pools at a reasonable price, which is about VNĐ200 million (US$8,900) per pool.

Nguyễn Hiệp Thống, deputy director of the Hà Nội Department of Education and Training, said that the capital’s immediate measure was to encourage parents to take their children to swimming centres to study swimming, especially in the coming summer vacation.

The department would create good conditions for enterprises interested in building swimming pools for students, and suggested such firms make contact with schools to discuss the work, he said. -- VNS