The Ministry of Education decided to introduce regular swimming classes at all educational institutions under the secondary, madrasa and technical education boards in March last year. Sources said the commendable initiative still remains on paper because most district education offices and their field offices have not paid heed to the instruction. In regions where there are no ponds – such as Dhaka – schools were instructed to coordinate with organisations that have swimming pools to conduct the swimming classes. The ministry assigned district education officers and upazila secondary education officers to monitor the swimming training and send a monthly report to the director general of secondary and higher education. However, when contacted, many field level officers said lack of ponds on school grounds had limited the number of venues for swimming classes.

Source: Dhaka Tribune September 25, 2016 20:03 UTC