A tragic and very worrying story about 14-year-old Blessing has made people think about it on a national level and made institutions look more closely at it. Claude Moukoko, an eighth grader from Canada, regrettably drowned during a swimming session in Montreal. The fact that no one noticed the teen was missing for an unbelievable 38 minutes while he was at the bottom of the pool makes the tragedy more worse. The coroner’s full report, which came out months after the February 15 event, paints a heartbreaking picture of how a tragedy that might have been avoided happened right in front of grownups. It has also asked that the guidelines for swimming safety in schools across the province be looked over right away.
Blessing, a student at the nearby École secondaire Père-Marquette, was at Centre Père-Marquette, a public recreation center that many local schools use for swimming lessons, for a planned physical education class. The lesson that day was part of a bigger program that taught kids how to swim and how to feel safe in the water. This lesson was really crucial for teens like Blessing, who might not have swum much before.
But something went extremely wrong.
The coroner’s report reveals that Blessing went under the water in the deep end of the pool at some point during the class. No one knows for sure why it happened. They might have been tired, confused, or scared for a moment. Before the end of the lesson, the teacher in charge didn’t check on all the students, and neither the lifeguards on duty nor any of Blessing’s classmates saw him having problems. It wasn’t until more than 40 minutes after the lesson ended and pupils began to exit the pool that someone noticed the teenager’s body laying lifeless at the bottom.
Once they found out, the emergency response was quick. They pulled Blessing out of the water and began CPR right away. It just took a few minutes for the paramedics to get there and take him to Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital. But the harm couldn’t be fixed. Blessing’s brain was hurt badly since he didn’t get enough oxygen for more than half an hour. His family held out hope for six hard days while he was on life support. Sadly, the efforts to bring him back to life didn’t work. Six days later, Blessing was declared dead because of a lack of care and a lot of problems with supervision.
The report from the coroner was extremely clear. The report didn’t claim the death was a freak event. Instead, it said that stronger safety measures may have kept it from happening. It noted that the class wasn’t being watched live, the staff wasn’t trained well enough, and the risk assessment wasn’t good. The study concluded that school swimming programs need to adjust their focus from only teaching kids how to swim to also teaching them basic water safety guidelines, especially for kids who don’t know how to swim or are just starting out.
There weren’t any clear steps in place to keep an eye on at-risk pupils or make sure they came to class every day. There were no headcounts done during the session. Even though the lifeguards were there, it was clear that they weren’t paying attention and didn’t know what they were doing. The teacher didn’t know all the regulations for keeping kids safe in the water, and there was no one else there to help with the instruction. Basically, Blessing, who was just starting to swim, was put in a place where even his most basic safety was not assured.
Valérie Plante, the mayor of Montreal, was plainly outraged by the results and told the media in Montreal how these kinds of problems effect individuals. “It just makes me sad. It’s hard for me to remember this teacher who was there when it happened. “It’s just awful,” she told the Montreal Gazette. “Let’s make sure our kids know how to behave in water and that school boards have enough money to keep everyone safe.”
People are mad over it. A lot of parents have asked how a youngster could leave a monitored pool and not be seen for almost 40 minutes. Since then, school board members have said they will review and amend the guidelines for swimming programs. Some of these improvements are limiting the amount of students per teacher, forcing staff to be in the pool, and making it easier for lifeguards to work with school staff. Experts say that people should have to pass swim exams before they can swim and that learning about water safety should be a required part of physical education.
But these developments come too late for Blessing’s family. Their son is dead. He was brilliant, quiet, and had a lot of potential. The school community is heartbroken by what happened, and students, teachers, and others who live nearby are having a hard time comprehending that it could have been averted. Candlelight vigils and memorial ceremonies have been held in memory of Blessing. His story is still sparking a lot of talk in Quebec and Canada about how to keep kids safer during school activities.
The death of Blessing Moukoko is more than simply a sad reminder of a young life wasted. It’s a wake-up call that we need to be aware, responsible, and ready to protect the most vulnerable people behind every safety guideline. A young boy died because someone wasn’t paying attention for only one second. This changed the lives of his family and the town forever.
