Prague, Dec 27 (CTK) – Swimming courses will become compulsory for all Czech children during their first years of school attendance as from September 2017, daily Lidove noviny (LN) wrote on Tuesday, referring to the changes the Education Ministry plans next year.
A ministerial decree has introduced a two-year compulsory swimming course for children in either the second and third or the third and fourth grade of elementary schools, the paper writes.
Most Czech schools organise swimming courses for students already now. As from September, however, the compulsory courses and the related transport of children will be for free, the costs being covered by the ministry, the daily writes.
As a result, the courses will become accessible to schools from problematic poor regions and children from low-income families, the paper says.
The ministry estimates the costs of the project at 98 million crowns.
The Czech School Swimming Union says only 5 percent of elementary schools do not organise any swimming courses for their students. The union is completing a list of these schools including the reasons of the situation.
The compulsory attendance might pose a problem to special schools for disabled children, some small schools and those situated far from a swimming pool, the union admits, LN writes.
