The Tribune

By DIANE PHILLIPS

Some of us are just plain lucky. We know how to swim. We have seen first-hand the wonders of the ocean world, the grouper and grunts, the waving grasses, the fragile coral. We can jump in a pool and swim without fear. But in a country that is 90 percent water, we are the outliers. Ninety seven percent of the population cannot swim well enough to be certified by international standards and 90 percent of us cannot swim well enough to save our own lives if caught in high waves or strong current.

We are an island nation with a population of non-swimmers.

Drowning is the number two cause of accidental death in The Bahamas and the rate of drowning in this country is 17 times higher than it is in the United Kingdom, though to be fair, how many attempt to swim when the temps in the UK rarely reach warm? Still, those are the stats and they are frightening.

So it is no wonder that when the government, and in particular, the Ministry of Education, announced a new program to introduce pools in schools, it was greeted with the warmest applause. From a public relations perspective, it was a smash hit with everything going for it. The idea was perfect. (And still is.) The optics were brilliant. Prime Minister Philip Davis and the Minister of Education Glenys Hanna Martin, smiling, heaving heavy shovels of dirt to create a massive hole in the ground against the backdrop of heavy equipment showing the project at Government High was real. Even better, this was a capital improvement project that wasn’t costing the Bahamian taxpayer a dime. It was being funded by the gaming houses community foundation. What’s not to love?

The concept of turning a nation of non-swimmers into a nation unafraid and eager to hit the water IS brilliant. And to be applauded in every way. The idea of starting with primary school students in government schools adds to the positives. Kudos to the Minister of Education and her team who have long supported the non-profit program Let’s Swim Bahamas that has been teaching swimming in government schools for 17 years, the last three of those with coaches from the Royal Bahamas Defence Force who also serve as positive male role models.

So with all those accolades, what could possibly be wrong? Maybe not wrong, but less effective and more costly than it needs to be. Is there a slightly better way to teach a nation’s youngsters how to swim, one that costs less, achieves more and is more sustainable?

Let’s look at it from a practical perspective. There are 24 government primary schools in New Providence. A teaching pool is shallow enough for coach and students to stand, 3.5 feet so you are looking at building two dozen shallow pools. Each pool requires maintenance and 24-hour security to ensure that neighbourhood kids do not think of it as their latest dare and risk injury or worse. To use the pool year-round, you need to heat it, adding to the already strained power consumption and cost. You also need specially trained coaches. Safety standards require one coach per 3-4 children in lower grades. In upper primary grades, it’s one coach per five children. For a class of 30 in a single school, that means five or six coaches – that is just one school. Multiply that by 24 should all be teaching swimming simultaneously and you can see the demand, more than 100 coaches who would have to undergo about a month’s training and experience to gain the confidence needed.

You could do a juggling act and move the coaches around, of course, but then why have a pool in every school instead of busing the students to a pool built for teaching swimming?

Let’s Swim Bahamas, the non-profit run by Nancy and Andy Knowles who have dedicated their lives to teaching swimming, has trained nearly 6,000 youngsters using three pools with maximum effectiveness –Betty Kelly-Kenning Aquatic Centre, South Beach Pools and most recently University of The Bahamas. Each swim session takes one hour out of the school day, including the bus ride to and from the nearest pool. The routine is repeated four days a week for two weeks and by the end of Grade Six, the child who started in Grade One has had nearly 50 lessons. To be fully qualified for a Swim America certification, an individual must be able to swim 300 metres without stopping or approximately the length of three football fields.

According to the Nancy and Andy who won the 2023 National Community Sports Award and are currently working with 13 schools and a team of 40 - all fully funded through private and corporate donations - the most critical component of any successful learn-to-swim initiative is program before design. The programme for teaching, all the plans, parts and labour and plans, the certified coaches, the maintenance, security, class scheduling, power supply, supervision, certification process should be in place. It’s not as exciting as digging that first hole, the Knowles know, and they stress that they are 100 percent supportive of what government wants to do. “This whole thing could be very positive,” says Andy, leading not only to carving a population of swimmers for safety’s sake, but allowing more Bahamians to enjoy the beauty of the waters, be more protective of the marine environment, enjoy more activities including boating, fishing, snorkelling and diving and for some, take up competitive swimming. They applaud the programme at Queen’s College which won the BAISS Swimming Championship this year and note that one of the most significant steps in the learn to swim initiative would be to move swimming into the realm of a core sport. As it stands now, schools would have to fit any time for swimming in between the seasons of the five core sports – basketball, track and field, softball/baseball, volleyball and soccer.

Like any great destination, there is more than one route to reach it. In this case, it may just be better to take schools to pools than to build pools in the schools.