7 drownings ...so why did SNP reject swim lessons for children?
GRIEVING families’ pleas for mandatory swimming lessons in schools, following a spate of drownings, have been rejected by the Scottish Government.
There were seven fatalities in one July week this year as the warm weather led to people diving into rivers and lochs.
Among them was Connor Markward, 16, of Easterhouse, Glasgow, who drowned at Balloch, Loch Lomond, on July 23.
The next day, Edina Olahova, 29, her nine-year-old son Rana Haris Ali and family friend Muhammad Asim Riaz, 39, died at the same loch.
Connor’s family led calls for mandatory swimming lessons for primary schoolchildren and a petition was lodged at the Scottish parliament. But Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville has dashed those hopes.
Responding to the public petitions committee she said that councils continue to have the ‘flexibility’ to decide whether to offer swimming lessons for all primary pupils – but many do not.
Families like Connor’s had hoped that mandatory swimming lessons would help others avoid his fate. Last month, his sister, Claire Lindsay, 35, said: ‘I never knew how dangerous Loch Lomond was. They should teach in nurseries and schools
about currents and how deep the water is.
‘I didn’t even know that when you get into difficulty you are not supposedto panic and you should “starfish”. Being taught that could save people’s lives.’
Connor’s mother, Margaret Lindsay, added: ‘I want more talks about swimming, learning to swim and awareness about the dangers.’
In a letter to MSPs on the public petitions committee, Ms Somerville wrote that ‘local authorities and individual schools have the flexibility to decide upon the content of their own lessons at the local level’.
Her refusal on mandatory lessons was attacked by a veteran open-water lifesaver last night.
George Parsonage, 78, former leader of the Glasgow Humane Society, has rescued around 1,500 people in decades of saving lives on the River Clyde.
He said: ‘I know there’s constraints in terms of money, but you can’t put a price on someone’s life.
‘If you can stop an accident happening in the first place, that’s the best thing.’
Oliver Mundell MSP, Scots Tory education spokesman, said: ‘Instead of dismissing increased access to swimming lessons, we would urge the SNP to see how best this could be delivered.’