Promoting swimming movement among children

At the end of last March, Khanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee issued a plan launching a swimming and drowning prevention movement among all people in the province in 2020. This is the basis for the province’s authorities, departments and localities to continue promoting swimming movement among children.

 

The movements aims to disseminate information about usefulness of swimming and water safety skills; uphold the roles and responsibilities of authorities at all levels, departments, families, schools, and the society in promoting swimming teaching and learning movement. Besides, it also aims to continue promoting affectively the implementation of Khanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee’s Decision No.1415 on accident and injury prevention in children in 2016-2020 period and of the pilot project to teach swimming to primary and junior high school pupils in 2017-2020 period. The movement’s launching ceremony is scheduled for the beginning of June at local swimming pools and swimming teaching facilities. The province’s sports sector will organize a swimming contest at province-level afterwards to promote the swimming movement. 

 

 

Statistics shows that every year, there are on average around 17 to 20 drowning incident in children in Khanh Hoa Province. Being aware of the importance of drowning prevention in children, in many recent years, Khanh Hoa Province has held many free swimming classes for children in summer; training courses on swimming skills and drowning prevention techniques for schools’ staff and teachers; and swimming contests at all levels. 

 

In Nha Trang City, since 2013, tens of thousands of pupils of primary and junior high schools have taken part in summer swimming classes. Especially, hundreds of pupils from poor families were equipped with basic swimming skills free of charge. From the encouraging results of local swimming movement, in 2018, Khanh Hoa’s sports sector incorporated swimming into the province’s system of movement sports contests, which has received positive response from pupils’ parents and the public. 

 

Apart from local movement activities, since 2018, Khanh Hoa’s sports sector has cooperated with the education and training sector to open training classes on swimming skills and drowning prevention techniques for schools’ staff and physical education teachers. According to the statistics, as of September 2019, 12,961 out of 105,380 primary school pupils could swim and had water safety skills; 13,638 junior high school pupils and 9,197 out of 36,790 high school pupils could swim; 11 out of 333 schools held swimming classes; 155 out of 789 physical education teachers finished swimming training courses. 

 

These results show that Khanh Hoa Province has paid attention on reducing drowning incidents in children and synchronously implemented swimming and drowning prevention movement across the province. 

 

An Nhien

Translated by H.N