MIRI: The Sarawak chapter of the Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) has rejected the Education Ministry’s proposal to allow students to use hotel pools for swimming lessons as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR).
Its honorary secretary-general, John Teo Peng Yew said the responsibility should fall on public pools which would always have qualified pool attendants during their operating hours. “Not appropriate as it will only disturb the peaceful atmosphere at the hotel pools.
The students will be noisy, jumping in and out of the pool, and their noise will disturb the hotel guests,” he here yesterday. He added hotel pools were meant for hotel guests who would want to enjoy a quiet time in and around the pool, otherwise they would not want to stay in that particular hotel if it opened its pool to the public.
He also pointed out that hotel pools were also smaller than public pools, therefore not suitable for student’s swimming lessons. “The government should encourage all schools to provide swimming lessons offered by qualified swimming instructors-cum-lifeguards at public pools,” he said.
Education Minister Maszlee Malik was quoted as saying that the ministry planned to hold discussions with hoteliers on the proposal as part of their CSR programme. He said using hotel pools for students’ swimming lessons was suggested as not all schools were equipped with or located near such facilities.
For the record, the proposal to have schools introduce swimming lessons to their students came after a series of drowning cases involving children in the country. – Bernama • SEE ANOTHER STORY ON PAGE 7 (Newspaper)
