THE CURRENT SITUATION

Swimming is a way of life in Queensland, yet there are growing fears we are no longer giving children the skills to survive in the water.

It is unacceptable that the Sunshine State has fallen behind the rest of the country in providing swim and safety lessons in our primary schools.

With the exception of Queensland, all states have comprehensive state government programs in place in primary schools to teach students how to swim.

In Victoria for example, all primary school students have to meet a water safety benchmark as part of the curriculum.

In Queensland, swimming and water safety lessons are encouraged in state, Catholic and independent schools, but they are not compulsory and children do not have to meet a minimum certification.

News Queensland is today starting an S.O.S. campaign to “save our schoolkids”.

Our campaign is calling for the introduction of compulsory, certified swim and water safety lessons in Queensland primary schools. Students would have to meet a set benchmark by the end of primary school, which would include skills such as being able to swim 25 metres of continuous survival stroke, to tread water for two minutes and to perform survival sequences.

Experts say we have to act now to prevent a rise in drownings and rescues linked to a decline in swimming ability in young people, in essence a generation who can’t swim to save themselves.