Pool access is becoming an equity issue for some Dunedin primary schools who say they are struggling to keep their pools operational. Principals and the New Zealand Educational Institute are calling on the Ministry of Education to provide more assistance to keep school pools open in an effort to ensure all children have access to swimming lessons and water safety skills. Samantha McPherson reports.
Principals are urging the Ministry of Education (MOE) to provide ''more support'' to keep school swimming pools open in the hope it will help lower New Zealand's ''alarming'' drowning deaths.
In the past five years, 630 people drowned in New Zealand. Of these, 41 were in Otago.
Carisbrook School principal Ben Sincock said if the ministry gave schools more support, it would help provide better accessibility and lower the drowning figures.
''There is an expectation [from the ministry] that schools will provide swimming lessons and pool access with limited assistance. Swimming is part of the school curriculum but pool access is becoming an equity issue. The drowning statistics in New Zealand are alarming,'' he said.
While a school swimming pool was ''beneficial'' to help children feel comfortable and capable in all water situations, it was a ''significant'' financial strain some schools struggled to cope with.
Under the ministry's current policy, schools do not receive any additional funding towards their swimming pool; it is a cost that comes out of their operations grant. The ministry does not provide pools in new schools or fund the replacement of pools at the end of their economic life.
Mr Sincock said a decision whether to keep Carisbrook's pool open for one term instead of two because of operational and maintenance costs would be made at the end of term one.
''It is very difficult to keep a school pool operational. It has got tougher and tougher over the years to stretch the dollar. Accessibility to schools that use the pool may be limited. We might also have to cut down the amount of time the pool is accessible to our students,'' he said.
NZEI Te Riu Roa national president Louise Green said that in the past decade, 20% of schools in New Zealand had closed their pools due to maintenance and compliance costs.
''The MOE does provide some funding towards school pool upkeep but it goes nowhere near the real cost of running a pool. That's why schools have either closed their swimming pools or had to go to their communities for funding. It places a big strain on schools, as they have to work very hard to find sponsorship and other solutions,'' she said.
Abbotsford School principal Stephanie Madden said it cost about $10,000 a year to keep the school pool open for terms one and four.
''There are great benefits to having the pool - children are given much more exposure to the water - but it is a big cost. Support from the MOE to keep pools open would be the push that I would like to see happen, particularly when you see the drowning statistics.''
Ministry of Education head of education infrastructure service Kim Shannon said schools without pools were encouraged to use a nearby community or council-owned facility, as that provided better value for money and led to better use of existing infrastructure.
