Mandatory swimming classes added to government school curriculum

Students in Reception through Year 2 attending government schools will have a mandatory swimming class added to their curriculum next year.

The ‘Swim Free’ programme has been introduced, following a shared vison between three prominent Caymanian families – the Flowers, Fosters and Don Seymour’s – to have all Caymanians equipped with the skill of swimming.

Their efforts were welcomed by the government and as a result, the programme, through the Cayman Islands YMCA, will have a place within all eight government primary schools on Grand Cayman.

“In the next 10 years, the aim is to have every Caymanian child in Cayman able to swim,” Frank Flowers Sr. told the Cayman Compass at the Flowers Sea Swim event. “We are partnering with… the government, and that’s the main objective.”

In a recent Parliament sitting, Education Minister Juliana O’Connor-Connolly stated that a portable pool would be provided for the programme and transported by trailer to each government school for one month.

“The pool, which is defined as an Independent Swimming Apparatus or ISA, is a state-of-the-art mobile swimming pool that is housed within a 40- foot shipping container,” she said.

The mobile swimming pool will feature a temperature-control system, ultraviolet-light filtration, and self-cleaning pumps, along with a retractable cover to prevent unwanted access when not in use.

According to O’Connor-Connolly, students will be taught to swim a minimum distance of 10 feet, noting that “most drownings happen within 10 feet from the edge of a pool, canal, dock or capsized vessels”.

She added that the first cycle of funding has already been established by the Flowers Sea Swim Group and other private sponsors, so that the Free Swim programme can begin in 2023. However, she said, government will commence its financial contributions in 2024.

“Because it is a new initiative, government had not budgeted for the programme,” she said.

“It is proposed that when a new budget is drafted for 2024, the non-staff recurring costs, estimated at $30,000 a year, will be transferred to the government.

“Swim Free stakeholders will continue to be involved in an advisory capacity and provide discretionary financial support as needed to maintain the standards or advance the programme,” she said.