THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A pool by the side of the classroom -if you think that is a luxury Kerala schools cannot think of, here’s a little surprise. Nedumcaud Government UP School in the city would soon be the first in the State to own a swimming pool and that too a state-of-the-art facility flaunting global standards. It was using the MLA fund of V Sivankutty that the former councillor of Nedumcaud and the school authorities first thought about setting up a pool in a bid to train students in swimming. However, the huge fund required for the pool was a put-off. The school called for tenders twice, but nobody came forward to take up the work. It was then that Hydro-care pools, which is an arm of Hitech Group of Companies led by Joy Kallumkal, evinced interest in the project as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility. On Thursday, the construction of the pool entered the secondary stage with the concreting process beginning. Guniting, which is spraying of the wet sand and cement mixture at the walls at continuously high pressure and which is a totally alien method in the State, has been employed for concreting. ‘’The PWD schedule in the State does not have this guniting facility. It leaves no air gaps, which makes it leakage-proof for many years. We imported machines from Switzerland to blend the mixture for the process,’’ said Sajith Unni, Country Manager of Dubai-based Hydro Care pools. Nedumcaud UPS was also the first school in the city to go in for a child-friendly look with bright and florescent colours on its walls and cartoon characters all over the classrooms. Former councillor Karamana Hari was behind the venture. Later, the idea was borrowed by the Corporation to introduce its ‘Mathrika vidyalayam’ project. The magic the idea did to Manacaud TTI school was for all to see. Hari was behind the idea of a pool too. ‘’The maintenance would be a thing to ponder over. But we are thinking of cajoling the Sports Council or the Sports Department to extend some help and to spare teachers for coaching. We plan to make a cluster of schools and allow students from other schools also to use the pool. Though nothing has been decided, we might even open it up for outsiders at a low fare in the evening,’’ Hari said. School headmistress K K Pushpavally is all happy at the ‘first’ the school will set. ‘’We don’t think any government school in Kerala has a swimming pool for its students. Our children are thrilled,’’ she said. If things fall into a pace, the pool will be ready in a few months.
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