Swimming, an essential skill
SWIMMING is an essential living skill that should be made compulsory and taught in both primary and secondary schools throughout the country.
All schools should incorporate swimming as a lesson in their school co-curriculum and conduct swimming lessons on weekday afternoons or weekends.
The schools can employ professional swimming instructors to conduct swimming lessons for the school children either in their own school swimming pools or swimming pools in the vicinity.
Stringent steps should be taken by the school authorities to ensure the safety and security of children during swimming lessons.
Teaching children to swim as part of the school curriculum not only teaches children how to swim but also learn about water safety, assess safe and dangerous situations and how to react in emergencies.
Learning to swim improves the chances of survival and saves lives and can reduce the drowning cases in the country.
Parents can complement the schools and equip their children with swimming lessons in their free time by sending them for swimming lessons on their own.
In 2015 there were over 400 cases of drowning mostly involving children.
Drowning is 10 times more deadly than fire.
Drowning awareness is low in Malaysia and there have been senseless drowning of children in swimming pools, rivers, ponds, lakes, beaches and homes.
Some parents have been known to be lackadaisical in the supervision of their children outdoors and indoors.
How many toddlers have drowned in their own bath tubs and pails in their bathrooms because the adults left them unattended for a few seconds?
During the floods, it is common to see flooded waters turned to water theme parks and children playing in make shift boats and swimming in flooded waters under the noses of their parents. only we could pay a little extra attention to our children when they are in the water, it would go a long way in saving lives and the agony and pain of crying foul after a tragedy.
Many of these drowning cases happen during the school holidays or monsoon season. And most of these cases could have been prevented if the children were aware of their situation and had lessons in life saving techniques.
Swimming and water safety skills should be a paramount and foremost priority in this country as we are a nation with an extensive coastline and a wide expanse of water in the form of rivers, lakes, ponds, waterfalls, drains and floods.
The government should make swimming and water safety compulsory for all children in Malaysia. And schools should be given the onus to teach children how to swim.
SAMUEL YESUIAH Seremban, Negri Sembilan