Water Safety New Zealand says hundreds of school swimming pools have closed in the past five years, because schools have no room in their operational grants to maintain them.
New research shows too few children can swim and teachers are crying out for better training and more pools.
Water Safety New Zealand says a quarter of Year Six students can't tread water or swim 25 metres.
The Ministry of Education says three quarters of all schools are funded to maintain a pool and those without one, can use their operational grant to get children to a pool.
