KUALA LUMPUR: Swimming will be introduced as a co-curricular activity for school students next year, said Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik.
He said the ministry aimed to equip the students with swimming skills and curb drowning incidents.
For a start, he said, the activity would taught to students at schools located near a public swimming pool.
He said the ministry would also carry out discussions with the respective local councils and state Education Department.
“The implementation of the co-curricular would be carried out in stages, starting with schools located near public swimming pools.
“We found that a lot of the swimming pools nationwide are under utilised.
“We hope that the swimming activity would be expanded to all the schools nationwide to prevent drowning among the children,” he said in his speech at a child safety programme held in conjunction with this year’s Children’s Day at Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP), here, today.
The co-curricular was among the four good news for education next year.
One of them, he said, was to ensure all schools were subjected to the issuance of Certificate of Fitness for Occupation (CFO) or Completion and Compliance (CCC) and certificate of fitness (CF) to ensure the safety of the children at school.
Other efforts revolved around ensuring that no students were left behind, encourage teachers to also give attention to class beautification, and reduce the school bag burden.
“I have instructed the Education director-general to make the schools the safest place to learn and play.
“I was made to understand that many schools were not certified with CF and CCC; this matter must not be compromised.
“On the issue of school bag, the ministry is committed in seeking solutions and my officers will carry out an in-depth study to reduce the weight (carried by students to school everyday) by next year.
“We don’t want them (children) to carry huge and heavy luggage like those of the stewards.
“We also want the teachers to be happy by reducing their workload as they are no longer required to do clerical jobs beginning next year and focus solely on teaching,” he said.
Maszlee said the ministry also aimed at inculcating good values at school through activities carried out fortnightly.
On a separate matter, he said the ministry would ensure that learning materials were expanded and shared in social media to be used by teachers and parents in assisting the children in studies.