THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Stressing the importance of providing swimming training to children, Sports Minister Saji Cherian said all educational institutions in the state should ideally have the facilities for it. He was inaugurating a semi Olympic-sized swimming pool of international standards at St Thomas Nagar, Mukkolakkal here on Tuesday.
On behalf of the state government, the minister lauded the efforts of the Mar Thoma Church Educational Society in setting an example for other educational institutions. Saji said he will discuss with the General Education Minister on the need to replicate the model across the state.
“It will be ensured that at least two to three such facilities to impart swimming training will be set up in each district,” he said. The minister said that he felt helpless during the 2018 floods when thousands of people were marooned.
“During the rescue operations in the 2018 floods, there were only a few people who knew swimming and who could effectively help in the rescue operations,” he noted. Saji also said the pool of International standards at St Thomas Nagar, with all necessary facilities, will help provide top-class training to students.
The six-track pool, which is 25m long and 12.5m wide, has a low depth area for the use of small children. With a total capacity of four lakh litres, the pool has facilities for the purification and recycling of water. Separate toilets and changing rooms for girls and boys and a gallery to seat 1,000 spectators are some of the facilities provided.
Skilled trainers will be appointed to provide swimming classes to children when Covid restrictions are relaxed and schools are permitted to function safely, Mar Thoma Church Educational Society secretary Rajan Varghese said. Theodosius Mar Thoma Metropolitan delivered the presidential address and Joseph Mar Barnabas Suffragan Metropolitan dedicated the pool. Mathew George, treasurer and Cherian Varghese, Construction and Maintenance convenor, also spoke at the occasion.