KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 22 — Education Minister Maszlee Malik’s suggestion for schools to use hotel pools to teach students how to swim is impractical, the Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) said.

Its chief executive officer Yap Lip Seng told The Star that pools in hotels are not designed for large-scale swimming lessons, especially if it involved young children whose safety must be given paramount attention.

"Most, if not all, swimming pools in hotels are meant for leisure. "While there are hotels that are currently already providing their facilities for selected school activities on an ad hoc basis as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, most hotel swimming pools are not designed for swimming lessons, especially for children,” he was quoted saying.

Yap also pointed out that hotel facilities are paid for by their clients, and therefore, they get priority.

However, he applauded the ministry’s initiative.

Maszlee was reported saying that hotels should open up their swimming pools to enable more students to learn how to swim.